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MACAULAY'S 

ESSAY ON 



Warren Hastings 



EDITED BY 

JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY 

PROFESSOR IN THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 



Ji«ic 



33ogton 

ALLYN AND BACON 
1907 







Two Copies Hecewed 

DEC 16 1907 

, _ Copyrigni tntry . 

CL/fsS 4 XXc. Nu, 
COPY 'b/ 

XioiT -■- ' — "— *— '^~*T?fTnirr^'r 



COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

ix 



A Brief Bibliography . . . 

A Sketch of Macaulay's Life ..... • • • 1 

The Historical Essat"^ as developed by Macaulay . 5 

The Original Plan of the Essay on Hastings . . 6 

Macaulay as a Reviser ....... 7 

The Text of the Essay on Hastings . . . ' . 19 

Questions on the Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay 155 

Notes . 163 



HI 



PREFACE. 

Macaulay is studied in schools chiefly for his structure. 
His writing illustrates (sometimes to the point of exaggera- 
tion) certain essentials of clear composition which young 
students of English always appreciate keenly and which 
they unconsciously turn to account in their own writing. 
" Obey the law of structure " is the all-important rule in 
the art of composition. The student who re-discovers in 
one of Macaulay's essays the principles with which he has 
become familiar in his text-book of rhetoric makes a con- 
siderable gain in composition power ; for he appreciates as 
never before the purely relative importance of these princi- 
ples. The essay on Warren Hastings is selected for study 
chiefly because it affords conspicuously excellent illustra- 
tions of all four forms of discourse, — narration, descrip- 
tion, exposition, and argumentation, — and shows how these 
four forms fall into place in obedience to the demands of 
Macaulay's theme. 

The aim of this edition is to direct the attention of the 
student to the skill with which a great mass of material 
has been reduced to brevity, order, and unity. The para- 
graphs are numbered, instead of the lines, in order to 
emphasize this fact. 

Considerable space is given in the notes to a criticism of 
Macaulay's facts. Although the essay is not studied as 
history, parts of it are studied as specimens of argumenta- 
tion. It is therefore unfair to allow the student to remain 
in ignorance of the material and methods by which later 

V 



vi Preface. 

historians have refuted some of Macaulay's statements. 
When Macaulay wrote the brilliant essay on Hastings 
(1841), James Mill's History of British India (London, 1818) 
was generally accepted as an authority deserving full con- 
fidence. Macaulay relied implicitly upon Mill for his facts. 
"There is not an important fact in his essay on Warren 
Hastings which is not taken from Mill's History " (Strachey, 
India, 194). Later investigators have discredited Mill's 
History in important particulars. For instance. Sir James 
Fitz James Stephen, in the Story of Nuncomar and the Im- 
peachment of Sir Elijah Impey (London, 1885), has rescued 
Chief Justice Impey's name from the ignominy which 
Macaulay, innocently following Mill, heaped upon it; and 
Sir John Strachey, in Hastings and the Rohilla War (Ox- 
ford, 1892), has refuted the worst of the charges made 
against Hastings by Burke in the famous speech impeach- 
ing Hastings, — charges repeated by Mill and Macaulay. 
Burke was misled by the unscrupulous Sir Philip Francis, 
Hastings' lifelong enemy, as Macaulay was afterward mis- 
led by Mill. 

In spite of these inaccuracies, however, Macaulay's essay 
on Hastings remains the most entertaining account of the 
period with which it deals ; and the shortest road to-day 
to a comprehension of that period begins with Macaulay's 
essays on Clive and Hastings. 

Macaulay wrote these essays after a four years' residence 
in India, but it does not appear that during this period his 
studies led him to suspect the untruthfulness of Mill as a 
historian, or that his duties as legal adviser to the Supreme 
Council of India would have permitted him, even had he 
thought it necessary, to investigate the documentary evi- 
dence upon which Mill had based his false conclusions. 
This documentary evidence is now available through the 
publication of G. W. Forrest's Letters, Despatches, and other 



Preface. ^ vii 

State Papers preserved in the Foreign Department of the Gov- 
ernment of India, 1772-1785 (Calcutta, 1890). Not until 
late in 1840, more than two years after his return from 
India, did Macaulay think of writing the essay on Hastings. 
In a letter to Napier, editor of the Edinburgh Review, dated 
November 13, 1840, Macaulay says : " I see that a life of 
Warren Hastings is just coming out. I mark it for mine. 
I will try to make as interesting an article, though I fear 
not so flashy, as that on Clive." His four years' residence 
in India cannot be regarded, therefore, as having contributed 
accuracy to Macaulay's account of Hastings. 

What it did contribute was true local coloring to his 
descriptions. We read the essay on Hastings not primarily 
for the sake of the historical facts (though we should be 
more grateful if these were in every respect accurate), but 
for its literary and rhetorical qualities, — for its vivid 
pictures of great men and great events, its clearness and 
charm in narrative, its admirable structure, its plausibility 
in argument. 

Two features of this edition require especial mention, — 
the section entitled "Macaulay as a Eeviser," and the sec- 
tion entitled "Questions on the Rhetorical Qualities of the 
Essay." The first is intended to demonstrate by concrete 
examples the value of revision and self-correction; the 
second suggests an economical method of studying style. 

The editor acknowledges his indebtedness to all who 
have preceded him in the annotation of this essay. Each 
note is fully accredited. 

Columbus, July, 1907. 



L. J. Trotter 
John Strachey 
J. F. Stephen 



B. 
W 



Impey . 
Forrest 



Ox- 



Art. 



A BRIEF BIBLIOaEAPHY. 

. . Warren HasWigs. Oxford, 1897. 

Hastings and the Boliilla War. Oxford, 1892. 

The Story of Nuncomar and the Impeachment 

of Sir Elijah Impey. 2 vols. London, 1885. 

A Life of Sir Elijah Impey. London, 1846. 

Letters, Despatches, and other State Papers 

preserved in the Foreign Department of the 

Government of India, 1772-1785. Calcutta, 

1890-1892. 

The Bise of the British Dominion in India. 

New York, 1893. 
A Brief History of the Indian Peoples. 

ford, 1897. 
Lord Clive. Oxford, 1900. 
The Dictionary of National Biography. 

Macaiday by Keene. 
Hours in a Library, 3 vols. London, 1892. 

Vol. iii. 
The Life and Letters of Lord Macaiday, 2 vols. 

New York, 1876. 
Macaulay (in English Men of Letters Series). 

New York, 1882. 
Macaulay. Cambridge, 1900. 
Literary Studies, 3 vols. London, 1898. 
Vol. ii (or National Beview, January, 1856). 
Essays and Beviews, 2 vols. Boston, 1883. 

Vol. i. 
A Manual of English Prose Literature. Bos- 
ton, 1895. 
A Study of English Prose Writers. New York, 
1898. 
Mrs. Margaret Oliphant . The Victorian Age of English Litera- 
ture. New York, 1892. 
Warren Hastings (English Men of Action 

Series). London, 1894. 
Biographical Sketches. New York, 1869. 
Gleanings of Past Years, 4 vols. New York, 

1878. Vol. ii. 
Critical Miscellanies, 3 vols. London, 1886. 

Vol. i. 
Corrected Impressions. New York, 1895. 
Mixed Essays. London, 1883. 
Lord Macaulay (in Beacon Lights of History). 



A. Lyall . . . 

W. W. Hunter . 

G. B. Malleson 
Leslie Stephen 

Leslie Stephen 



G. O. Trevelyan 



J. C. Morison 



E. 
W 



C. Jebb 
Bagehot 



E. P. Whipple 



W. MiNTO . 

J. S. Clark 



Alfred Lyall . 

H. Martineau . 
W. E. Gladstone 

J. MORLEY . . 



G. Saintsbury 
M. Arnold . 
J. Lord . . 



IX 



INTRODUCTION. 

Sketch of Macaulay's Life. 

To be born into a family of good education^ severe moral- 
ity, serious purposes ; to be endowed with unusual talents ; 
to be recognized promptly as a genius and rewarded bounti- 
fully with honors, literary, social, and political ; to meet no 
obstacles that will not yield to vigor and honest pluck ; to 
win success at every turn, and to find the world, through 
life, perfectly intelligible, and, on the whole, eminently 
satisfactory, — what fortune better than this could any man 
desire ? Yet this was the happy fate of Thomas Babing- 
ton Macaulay, the most popular of English historians and 
essayists. ^ 

He was born in Leicestershire in the year 1800. His 
father, Zachary Macaulay, was a man of strict integrity, an 
ardent supporter of the movement for abolishing the slave 
trade, and editor of the Christian Observer, the organ of 
that reform. The Macaulay home was ■ a place where a 
boy would often hear discussion of high themes and where 
good books were plentiful. The mother was a gentlewoman 
of culture. She superintended her son's readiug with great 
wisdom. There was surely need of careful oversight, for 
at eight he had learned by heart Scott's Marmion, had 
begun heroic and romantic poems in imitation of Scott, and 
was compiling a universal history. His mother criticised 
with sympathy these early efforts and kept the young 
prodigy ignorant of the vast difference between him and 

1 



2 Introduction. 

the other children. So he passed a natural and happy 
childhood, loved his home ardently, and read to his heart's 
content. 

Macaulay received good elementary schooling and at 
eighteen began residence at Trinity College, Cambridge. 
Here he devoted himself to the classics and to wide reading 
in general literature. He made many good friends and 
gained distinction as a conversationist, a debater, and a 
writer, but failed to win the highest honors on account of 
his neglect of mathematics. He took his degree in 1822. 
Two years later he was appointed to a Fellowship, which 
paid him £300 annually. 

The year 1824 brought Macaulay the cares and burdens 
of manhood. His father suffered immense losses in busi- 
ness; there were heavy debts to be paid, and brothers and 
sisters to be supported. To the fulfilment of these obliga- 
tions Macaulay addressed himself with energy and cheer- 
ful confidence, and by the time he was forty he had met 
them all and had gained a competence besides. Success 
attended his efforts from the very first. The article on 
Milton, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review for August, 
1825, began a connection with that journal which lasted 
nearly twenty years^ gave him immediate fame, and opened 
the way to social distinction and political preferment. In 
1826 he was called to the bar ; in 1828 he was appointed a 
commissioner of bankruptcy at an annual salary of £400 ; 
and in 1830 he was sent to Parliament from the " pocket 
borough '^ of Calve. 

No man ever began a public career at a more opportune 
time. The great movement for reform was nearing full 
tide, and Macaulay found himself in hearty accord with the 
new spirit. He entered into the debates with ardor and 
proved an effective orator. When, in 1832, the reform was 
achieved, his party rewarded his services by returning him 



Sketch of Macaulay § Life. 3 

to Parliament as member for Leeds, one of the new constit- 
uencies created by the Eeform Bill. He was also made 
Secretary to the Board of Control for India Affairs. He 
had stood with his party against the repeal of the union 
with Ireland, in favor of removing the civil disabilities of 
the Jews, and against perpetuating the exclusive trade 
privileges of the East India Company. He had even voted 
to abolish the office of Commissioner in Bankruptcy, thereby 
cutting off a large part of his own income. But when his 
party brought forward the West India Bill, which aboli- 
tionists like the Macaulays could not sanction, he promptly 
braved political ruin by resigning his of&ce under the 
ministry and b}^ speaking and voting against the measure. 
The Whig leaders, however, were too wise to allow Macau- 
lay to leave them. His resignation was refused, his opposi- 
tion condoned, and he found himself able to say, " I have 
the singular good luck of having saved both my honor and 
my place." 

During these busy years in Parliament he wrote a dozen 
or more of his well-known essays for the Edinburgh Review, 
enjoyed London society freely, and kept up a large corre- 
spondence. His letters are filled with humorous descriptions 
of the great social gatherings to which he was invited, and 
of the people of distinction whose acquaintance he enjoyed. 

In 1834 he was appointed President of the new Law 
Commission for India and a member of the Supreme Coun- 
cil of Calcutta. These offices would necessitate his removal 
to India and would take him out of public life in England 
for a time; but he accepted them, for they carried with 
them a very large salary, which meant freedom from debt 
and a fortune suflB.cient for the rest of his life. His chief 
labor in India was spent in drawing up a Penal Code and 
Code of Criminal Procedure, a monument of industry and 
ability, which has won high praise from succeeding genera- 



4 Introduction. 

tions of India judges and lawyers. He found time also to 
accomplisli an enormous amount of reading and writing 
and to visit many places of interest ; but he regarded liis 
stay in India as a period of banishment and, late in 1837, 
gladly began the long voyage home. 

On his return from India he desired to devote himself to 
writing his " History of England " ; but political obligations 
prevented. He was returned to Parliament as member for 
Edinburgh, serving from 1839 to 1847, holding also the 
positions of Secretary of War (1839-1841) and Paymaster 
of the Forces (1846-1847). During these eight years he 
spoke on all of the important questions before Parliament, 
defending the war with China in 1840, opposing Chartism, 
supporting the bill to abolish theological tests in the Scotch 
Universities, resisting the attempt to deprive dissenters of 
their chapels, advocating a change in the copyright law and 
supporting a bill to limit the labor-day in factories to ten 
hours for young employes. 

In 1842 appeared the " Lays of Ancient Eome " and in 
1844 the last of his essays in the Edinburgh Review. In 
1849 the first two volumes of his "History of England" 
were published. The public demand for this work was 
enormous. Never before had history been written in so 
picturesque and entertaining a manner. Macaulay suc- 
ceeded in making history more interesting than fiction. 
The second two volumes appeared in 1855 and were read 
with avidity. While writing the History, he contributed 
to the Encydopoedia Britannica biographies of Atterbury 
(1853), Bunyan (1854), Goldsmith (1856), Johnson (1856), 
and Pitt (1859). 

The last decade of Macaulay's life brought him many 
deserved honors. In 1849 he was made Lord Rector of the 
University of Glasgow, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
In 1857 he was elected a foreign member of the French 



The Historical Essay as Developed hy Maeaulay. 5 

Academy and of the Prussian Order of Merit, as well as 
High. Steward of Cambridge ; and was raised to the Peer- 
age as Baron Maeaulay of Kothley. He was the first liter- 
ary man to achieve the last distinction. 

He died at Holly Lodge, Kensington, December 28, 1859, 
leaving a fifth volume of the history drafted and partly 
completed. 

The Historical Essay as Developed by Macaulay. 

The originality of form and treatment which Macaulay 
gave to the historical essay has not, perhaps, received due 
recognition. Without having invented it, he so greatly im- 
proved and expanded it that he deserves nearly as much 
credit as if he had. He did for the historical essay what 
Haydn did for the sonata, and Watt for the steam-engine ; 
he found it rudimentary and unimportant, and left it com- 
plete, and a thing of power. Before his time there was the 
ponderous history, generally in quarto, and there was the 
antiquarian dissertation. There was also the historical re- 
view, containing alternate pages of extract and comment, 
generally dull and gritty. But the historical essay, as he 
conceived it, and with the prompt inspiration of a real dis- 
coverer immediately put into practical shape, was as good 
as unknown before him. To take a bright period or person- 
age of history, to frame it in a firm outline, to conceive it 
at once in article size, and then to fill in this limited canvas 
with sparkling anecdote, telling bits of color, and facts all 
fused together by a real genius for narrative, was the sort 
of genre-painting which Macaulay applied to history. And 
to this day his essays remain the best of their class, not 
only in England, but in Europe. Slight, or even trivial, in 
the field of historical erudition and critical inquiry, they 
are masterpieces if regarded in the light of great popular 
cartoons on subjects taken, from modern history. They are 



6 Introduction. 

painted, indeed, with such freedom, vividness, and power, 
that they may be said to enjoy a sort of tacit monopoly of 
the periods and characters to which they refer, in the esti- 
mation of the general public. 

— J. Cotter Mokisoist: Macaulay. 

The Original Plan of the Essay on Hastings. 
Writing to Napier, January 11, 1841, Macaulay says : — 
" I have hardly opened Gleig's book on Warren Hastings, 
and I cannot yet judge whether I can review it before it is 
complete. I am not quite sure that so vast a subject may 
not bear two articles. The scene of the first would lie 
principally in India. The Eohilla War, the disputes of 
Hastings and his Council, the character of Francis, the death 
of Nuncomar, the rise of the empire of Hyder, the seizure 
of Benares, and many other interesting matters, would 
furnish out such a paper. In the second the scene would 
be changed to Westminster. There we should have the 
Coalition ; the India Bill ; the impeachment ; the characters 
of all the noted men of that time, from Burke, who man- 
aged the prosecution of Hastings, down to the wretched 
Tony Pasquin, who first defended and then libelled him. 
I hardly know a story so interesting, and of such various 
interest. And. the central figure is in the highest degree 
striking and majestic. I think Hastings, though far from 
faultless, one of the greatest men that England ever pro- 
duced. He had pre-eminent talents for government, and 
great literary talents too ; fine taste, a princely spirit, and 
heroic equanimity in the midst of adversity and danger. 
He was a man for whom Nature had done much of What 
the Stoic philosophy pretended, and only pretended, to do 
for its disciples. Meyis aequa in arduis is the inscription 
under his picture in the Government House at Calcutta, and 
never was there a more appropriate motto. This story has 



fr 



Macaulay as a Reviser. 7 

never been told as well as it deserves. Mill's account of 
Hastings's administration is indeed very able — the ablest 
part, in my judgment, of his work — but it is dry. As to 
Gleig, unless he has improved since he wrote Sir Thomas 
Munro's life, he will make very little of his subject. I am 
not so vain as to think that I can do it full justice ; but the 
success of my paper on Clive has emboldened me, and I 
have the advantage of being in hourly intercourse with 
Trevelyan, who is thoroughly well acquainted with the 
languages, manners, and diplomacy of the Indian courts." 
— Trevelyan: Life and Letters of Macaulay, II, 77. 

Macaulay as a Eevisee. 
By 1842 it was evident that Macaulay's reviews should 
be edited carefully and put into final form for the long life 
that their immense popularity seemed to insure. Macaulay, 
however, doubted the wisdom of so doing. He had written 
most of them with no thought that they would ever be 
regarded as permanent contributions to literature, and had 
admitted to them certain showy and exaggerated passages 
which he knew could not stand the test of time. Writing 
to Napier who, as editor, had cut out a few such passages 
from one of his reviews, Macaulay mildly remonstrates as 
follows : " The omissions seemed to me, and to one or two 
persons who had seen the article in its original state, to be 
made on a principle which, however sound in itself, does 
not, I think, apply to compositions of this description. The 
passages omitted were the most pointed and ornamented 
sentences in the review. Now, for high and grave works, a 
history, for example, or a system of political or moral phi- 
losophy, Dr. Johnson's rule — that every sentence which the 
writer thinks fine ought to be cut out — is excellent. But 
periodical works like ours which, unless they strike at the 
first reading, are not likely to strike at all, whose whole life 



8 Introduction. 

is a month or two, may, I think, be allowed to be sometimes 
even viciously florid. Probably, in estimating the real 
value of any tinsel which I may put upon my articles, you 
and I should not materially differ. But it is not by his own 
taste, but by the taste of the fish, that the angler is deter- 
mined in his choice of bait." 

— Trevely AN : Life and Letters of Macaulay, I, 146. 
Writing to Napier, June 24, 1842, that he had decided 

not to republish his essays, Macaulay says : " The public 
judges, and ought to judge, indulgently of periodical works. 
They are not expected to be highly finished. Their natural 
life is only six weeks. Sometimes their writer is at a dis- 
tance from the books to which he wants to refer. Some- 
times he is forced to hurry through his task in order to 
catch the post. He may blunder ; he may contradict him- 
self ; he may break off in the middle of a story ; he may 
give an immoderate extension to one part of his subject and 
dismiss an equally important part in a few words. All this 
is readily forgiven if there be a certain spirit and vivacity 
in his style. But, as soon as he republishes, he challenges 
a comparison with all the most symmetrical and polished of 
human compositions. . . . My reviews are generally thought 
to be better written, and they certainly live longer, than the 
reviews of most other people ; and this ought to content me. 
The moment I come forward to demand a higher rank, I 
must expect to be judged by a higher standard." 

— Trevely AN : Life and Letters of Macaulay, II, 101. 
But the revision was forced upon him by the action of the 

American publishers in bringing out reprints of the essays 
without corrections. (Trevelyan, II, 101.) He spent the 
first weeks of 1843 in preparing for the republication. 
April 19, 1843, he writes to Napier : " My collected reviews 
have succeeded well. Longman tells me that he must set 
about a second edition." 



Macaulay as a Reviser, 9 

The changes made in the revision of the Essay on War- 
ren Hastings are noted below. The student of Macaulay's 
workmanship will find it instructive to account for them. 
Most of them fall in one or another of the three classes 
following : (1) Changes made apparently in order to reduce 
exaggeration, or to discard or soften a harsh or too positive 
judgment; (2) those made apparently for the sake of 
greater accuracy of statement, or to prevent ambiguity, or 
to secure a better distribution of emphasis in a sentence or 
adjacent sentences ; (3) those made apparently in order 
better to satisfy the ear. 

The Essay on Warren Hastings, as it first appeared in 
the Edinburgh Review for October, 1841, began with the 
two paragraphs that follow. These were omitted in Macau- 
lay's revision (1843). 

" This book seems to have been manufactured in pursuance 
of a contract, by which the representatives of Warren Hast- 
ings, on the one part, bound themselves to furnish papers, 
and Mr. Gleig, on the other part, bound himself to furnish 
praise. It is but just to say that the covenants on both sides 
have been most faithfully kept; and the result is before us 
in the form of three big bad volumes, full of undigested 
"^ correspondence and undiscerning panegyric. 

"If it were worth while to examine this performance in 
detail, we could easily make a long article by merely point- 
ing out inaccurate statements, inelegant expressions, and 
immoral doctrines. But it would be idle to waste criticism 
on a bookmaker ; and, whatever credit Mr. Gleig may have 
justly earned by former works, it is as a bookmaker, and noth- 
ing more, that he now comes before us. More eminent men 
than Mr. Gleig have written nearly as ill as he, when they 
have stooped to similar drudgery. It would be unjust to 
estimate Goldsmith by the Vicar of Wakefield,^ or Scott 

1 In the Edinburgh Review for January, 1842, Macaulay said that he 
meant to write " Goldsmith by the History of (^reece " instead of '' Gold- 
smith by the Vicar of Wakefield." 



10 Introduction. 

by the Life of JSTapoleon. Mr. Gleig is neither a Gold- 
smith nor a Scott ; but it would be unjust to deny that he is 
capable of something better than these memoirs. It would 
also, we hope and believe, be unjust to charge any Christian 
minister with the guilt of deliberately maintaining some 
propositions which we find in this book. It is not too much 
to say that Mr. Gleig has written several passages, which 
bear the same relation to the ' Prince ' of Machiavelli that 
the '■ Prince ' of Machiavelli bears to the ' Whole Duty of 
Man,' and which would excite amazement in a den of rob- 
bers, or on board of a schooner of pirates. But we are will- 
ing to attribute these offences to haste, to thoughtlessness, 
and to that disease of the understanding which may be called 
the Furor Biographicus, and which is to writers of lives what 
the goitre is to an Alpine shepherd, or dirt-eating to a Negro 
slave." 

[Numbers refer to paragraphs.] 

1. minutely examining, dwelling' on the faults of. 
such adulation, such puerile adulation. 

would hear many spots. The next sentence, omitted in the 
revision, read as follows : " He would have preferred, 
we are confident, even the severity of Mr. Mill to the 
puffing of Mr. Gleig." 

2. Bristol Channel, JBritish Channel. 

3. overivhelmed by, overwhelmed in. 

4. Before this transfer, Before the transfer. 

and died in the West Indies, and went to the West Indies, 
where he died. 

6. But forty years later. But many years later. 

13. a share in the worst abuses, a share in the abuses. 

16. in this project, in his project. 

18. It is every day, etc. This and the following sentence were 
united by a semicolon, in the original. (Similar changes 
in punctuation, occurring subsequently in the essay, are 
numerous and will not be noted.) 



Macaulay as a Reviser. 11 

home to Imhoff. A paragraph, omitted in the revision, fol- 
lowed : " We are not inclined to judge either Hastings or 
the baroness severely. There was undoubtedly much to 
extenuate their fault. But we can by no means concur 
with the Rev. Mr. Gleig, who carries his partiality to so 
injudicious an extreme as to describe the conduct of 
Irnhoff — conduct the baseness of which is the best ex- 
cuse for the lovers — as 'wise and judicious.'" 
20. on the same plan, ' on the same wise and judicious plan ' 
(we quote the words of Mr. Gleig). 

24. to send protests to England, to send home protests. 

25. about which, with which. 

were almost entirehj neglected, they almost entirely neglected. 
the internal administration of a whole presidency, the depart- 
ments of finance, revenue, and justice. 

26. The personal allowance of the nabob. The civil list of the nabobs. 
The collection of the revenue. The administration of- justice, the 

collection of the revenue, the superintendence of the 
household of the prince, the administration of justice. 

28. One of these ivas. The one was. 

29. tvill sometimes shriek, will shriek. 

31. Mohammed Reza Khan. When Hastings, etc., Mohammed 

Reza Khan, who had held his high office seven years when 
Hastings became Governor. 

32. a poorer country, a much poorer country. 

than Ireland, for example, or than Portugal, than Ireland, for 
example, than Portugal, or than Sweden. 

33. was removed from office, was deprived of his government. 

35. robe of state, robe of honor. 

sent back to his government at Patna, sent back in state to 
Patna. 
38. The directors, it is true, etc.. It is perfectly true that the 
directors, etc. 
their letters written at that time, their letters at that time. 



12 Introduction. 

an admirable code of political ethics, an admirable circle of 

political ethics. 
vicegerent at Calcutta, lieutenant at Calcutta. 

41. beyond their passes, beyond the passes. 

42. courage in war, valor in war. 
guardianship of valor, guardianship of courage. 

45. Says Mr. Gleig, Says the Rev. Mr. Gleig. 

We are almost ashamed to notice Major Scott's absurd plea, etc., 
Mr. Gleig repeats Major Scott's absurd plea, etc. 

47. the biographer, the reverend biographer. 

48. Yet is the injured nation not extinct. Yet is the injured nation 

not yet extinct. 

53. The evidence is, etc., The external evidence is, etc. 
these speeches, those speeches. 

.54. with the single exception of Burke ; and it would be a waste of 
time to prove that Burke was not Junius, with the single 
exception of Burke, who certainly was not Junius. 
Nay, it is certain that Junius, etc., Nay, it is certain the Man 
in the Mask, etc. 

59. into the hands of the new Councillors, into the hands of his 
opponents. 

62. against a clerk from the war-office, against a war-ofRce clerk. 

63. The villainous Brahmin had induced, He had induced. 
a perilous game,'si desperate game. 

into action, in action. 

66. That Impey ought, etc. A paragraph, omitted in the revision, 
followed: "Mr. Gleig is so strangely ignorant as to 
imagine that the Judges had no further discretion in the 
case ; and that the power of extending mercy to Nun- 
comar resided with the Council. He therefore throws on' 
Francis, and Francis's party, the whole blame of what 
followed. We should have thought that a gentleman who 
has published five or six bulky volumes on Indian affairs, 
might have taken the trouble to inform himself as to the 
fundamental principles of the Indian Government. The 



Macaulay as a Reviser, 13 

Supreme Court had, under the Regulating Act, the power 
to respite criminals till the pleasure of the Crown should 
be known. The Council had, at that time, no power to 
. interfere." 

68. The Mussulmans alone, etc., The Mahommedans alone, etc. 

72. even a good man, etc., even good men cannot be trusted to 

decide causes in which they are themselves concerned. 

73. a lesson not to he forgotten, one not to be forgotten. 

74. natural productions of India. In the original, the sentence 

closed with an exclamation point. 

75. But thcij entirely forgot, But they utterly forgot. 

76. above a hundred votes over, above a hundred over. 

77. of securing an honorable retreat, of a secure and honorable 

retreat. 

78. on one side, on the one side. 
subsidiary alliances, subordinary alliances. 

79. Had Hastings still been in a minority. Had Monson been still 

alive. 
the steps taken at home, the steps which had been taken. 

80. the keys of the fort and of the treasury, the keys of the fort 

and the treasury. 

should solemnly pronounce, had solemnly pronounced. 

83. The great and victorious empire, That great and victorious 

empire. 

84. The danger was, etc. In the original, dashes were used in- 

stead of commas after " power " and " ammunition." Simi- 
lar changes in punctuation occurring elsewhere in the 
essay are numerous and will not be noted. 

85. though really independent of each other, pretended etc., though 

really independent, pretended. 
They all acknowledged. And acknowledged. 

91. Coote though he did not, etc. Coote did not, like Barwell, 
vote constantly with the Govern or- General ; but he was 
by no means inclined, etc- 



14 Introduction. 

92. ivUle his help luas needed in Council, while Hastings wanted 
his help. 

94. for the emoluments, for the same emoluments. 
the fees at Calcutta, the fees in Calcutta. 

95. judges not one of whom was familiar, judges not one of whom 

spoke the language or was familiar. 
100. ivith having deceived him and with having induced, with having 

deceived him and induced. 
could not consent to, must decline. 
103, he became a sovereign^ he became a prince. 

105. The white villas to ivhich our countrymen retire. The white 

villas, embosomed in little groves of tulip-trees, to which 
our countrymen retire. 
prowling among the tulip trees and near the gay verandas, 
prowling near those gay verandas. 

106. assembling an army, forming an army. 

111. of St. James's and of Versailles, of St. James's and of the 
Petit Trianon. 

and engaged to send, and sent. 

This tribute, These duties. 

had paid, had fulfilled. 
114. or could plead, or plead. 

a government, a single government. 

116. though it may be grossly abused. This clause does not appear 

in the original. 
the stronger must prevail, the strongest must prevail. 

117. in the general chaos, in that general chaos. 
less perhaps, less we believe. 

118. at last determined him, however determined him. 

He added to the requisition another. He added another. 

122. It is possible that, It is probable that. 

123. lest the precious metal should tempt, lest they should tempt. 
126. seized by the army and divided as prize-money, seized and 

divided as prize-money by the army. 
132. not ashamed to instigate the spoiler, etc. In the original the 
sentence stops with the word "spoiler." 



Macaulay as a Reviser. 15 

133. act of confiscation, measure of confiscation. 

134. the Vizier began to reflect, he began to reflect. 

It was necessary to use violence, It was necessary to use force. 

138. their coffers, their revenue. 

English ivarriors who stood by. A paragraph, omitted in the 
revision, follows : " There is a man to whom the conduct 
of Hastings, through the whole of these proceedings, ap- 
pears not only excusable but laudable. There is a man 
who tells us that he ' must really be pardoned if he ven- 
tures to characterize as something pre-eminently ridiculous 
and wicked the sensibility which would balance against 
the preservation of British India a little personal suffering 
which was applied only so long as the sufferers refused to 
deliver up a portion of that wealth, the whole of which 
their own and their mistresses' treason had forfeited.' 
We cannot, we must own, envy the reverend biographer 
either his singular notion of what constitutes pre-eminent 
wickedness or his equally singular perception of the pre- 
eminently ridiculous. Is this the generosity of an English 
soldier? Is this the charity of a Christian priest? Could 
neither of Mr. Gleig's professions teach him the very rudi- 
ments of morality? Or is morality a thing which may be 
well enough in sermons, but which has nothing to do with 
biography ? " 

139. Some of them. The greater part. 

in the dialects of northern India, in Persian and Hindoo stanee. 
crimes committed by Asiatics in Oude, crimes committed by 
natives in Oude. 

141. summoned home, ordered home. 

145. formed and superintended, created and superintended. 
his creation, his work. 

152. The Brahminical religion. Their religion. 

153. What the Hindoos knew, What they knew. 

it is probable that the oldest man in Bengal could not recollect, 
the oldest man in Bengal- could probably not recollect. 



16 Introduction. 

157. to Mr. Shore, to his friend Mr. Shore. 
of his friend Hastings, of Hastings. 

162. an agent, the agent. 

163. hut not that of his mind, but not of his mind. 

prevented the advisers of the Crown, prevented the government. 
Since he had presided. Since he presided. 

165. industry and ability, industry and talent. 

166. the representative, the personification. 

We surely cannot attribute, It seems absurd to attribute. 

167. he found a multitude, he drew a rich abundance. 
lahere the imaum prays, where the imaum prayed. 

168. became the slave, was reduced to be the slave. 
who called him, who represented him as. 

a sensibility, a tempestuous sensibility. 

171. and found it necessary, but found it necessary. 

172. Dundas had formerly moved, Dundas had moved. 

175. no ground for, no ground at all for. 

176. was this, that, was, that. 

They first represented, They first contended that . . . was. 

177. divided against Mr. Pitt, voted against Mr. Pitt. 

180. The ferment spread, etc.^ This sentence and the next were 
added in the-revision. 
finest, greatest. 

184. -among the English, in England. 

able, well-informed, energetic and active, energetic, able, well- 
informed and active. 

185. over the lord of the holy city of Benares, and over the ladies, 

over the lord of the holy city of Benares and the ladies. 

186. led the way, George Elioit, Lord Heathfield, led the way, 

Lord Heathfield. 

crowded by an audience such as, crowded by such an audi- 
ence as. 

empire, realm. 



Macaulay as a Reviser. 17 

189. There were Fox and Sheridan^ There stood Fox and Sheridan. 

190. Four sittings were occupied, Four sittings of the court were 

occupied. 
from the stern and hostile Chayicellor, even from the stern and 
hostile Chancellor. 

194. as a Peer loittily said, as the late Lord Stanhope wittily- 

said. 

195. occupied, excited. 
attracted, excited. 
country, public. 

197. loould have brought the trial of Hastings to a close, would have 
finished the trial of Hastings. 

201. Nevertheless matip wished, Many wished. 

202. Of about a hundred and sixty. Of a hundred and sixty. 

203. teas informed, informed. 

ivas solemnly discharged, discharged. 

204. an empire, a great country. 

205. Logan defended . . . in prose. Logan in prose defended. 

206. to reimburse him the costs, to reimburse him for the costs. 
necessary, required. 

adherents, partisans. 

An annuity for life, An annuity. 

210. to write a copy of verses, to compose a copy of verses. 

212. marks of royal favor, marks of the favor of the crown. 

received with marks of respect, received by the public with 
marks of respect. 

would soon be paid, should soon be paid. 

214. during many ages, for many ages. 

should have mingled, should have been mingled. 
capacity of Richelieu. He had patronized, etc., capacity of 
Richelieu ; and had patronized. 

215. But though we cannot, But while we cannot. 



MACAULAY'S ESSAY 

ON 

WARREN HASTINGS. 

Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of 
Bengal. Compiled from Original Papers, by the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M. A. 
3 yds. 8vo. London : 1841. 

1. We are inclined to think that we shall best meet the 
wishes of our readers, if, instead of minutely examining 
this book, we attempt to give, in a way necessarily hasty 
and imperfect, our own view of the life and character of 
Mr. Hastings. Our feeling towards him is not exactly that 
of the House of Commons which impeached him in 1787 ; 
neither is it that of the House of Commons which uncov- 
ered and stood up to receive him in 1813. He had great 
qualities, and he rendered great services to the state. But 
to represent him as a man of stainless virtue is to make 
him ridiculous ; and from a regard for his memory, if from 
no other feeling, his friends would have done well to lend 
no countenance to such adulation. We believe that, if he 
were now living, he would have sufficient judgment and 
sufficient greatness of mind to wish to be shown as he was. 
He must have known that there were dark spots on his 
fame. He might also have felt with pride that the splen- 
dor of his fame would bear many spots. He would have 
wished posterity to have a likeness of him, though an 
unfavorable likeness, rather .than a daub at once insipid 

19 



20 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

and unnatural, resembling neither him nor anybody else. 
^' Paint me as I am," said Oliver Cromwell, while sitting 
to young Lely. "If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, 
I will not pay you a shilling." Even in such a trifle, the 
great Protector showed both his good sense and his mag- 
nanimity. He did not wish all that was characteristic in 
his countenance to be lost, in the vain attempt to give him 
the regular features and smooth blooming cheeks of the curl- 
pated minions of James the First. He was content that 
his face should go forth marked with all the blemishes 
which had been put on it by time, by war, by sleepless 
nights, by anxiety, perhaps by remorse ; but with valor, 
policy, authority, and public care written in all its princely 
lines. If men truly great knew their own interest, it is 
thus that they would wish their minds to be portrayed. 

2. Warren Hastings sprang from an ancient and illus- 
trious race. It has been affirmed that his pedigree can be 
traced back to the great Danish sea-king, whose sails were 
long the terror of both coasts of the Bristol Channel, and 
who, after many fierce and doubtful struggles, yielded at 
last to the valor and genius of Alfred. But the undoubted 
splendor of the line of Hastings needs no illustration from 
fable. One branch of that line wore, in the fourteenth 
century, the coronet of Pembroke. Prom another branch 
sprang the renowned Chamberlain, the faithful adherent of 
the White Eose, whose fate has furnished so striking a 
theme both to poets and to historians. His family received 
from the Tudors the earldom of Huntingdon, which, after 
long dispossession, was regained in our time by a series of, 
events scarcely paralleled in romance. 

3. The lords of the manor of Daylesford, in Worcester- 
shire, claimed to be considered as the heads of this distin- 
guished family. The main stock, indeed, prospered less 
than some of the younger shoots. But the Daylesford 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 21 

family, though not ennobled, was wealthy and highly con- 
sidered, till, about two hundred years ago, it was over- 
whelmed by the great ruin of the civil war. The Hastings 
of that time was a zealous cavalier. He raised money on 
his lands, sent his plate to the mint at Oxford, joined the 
royal army, and, after spending half his property in the 
icause of King Charles, was glad to ransom himself by 
making over most of the remaining half to speaker Lenthal. 
The old seat at Daylesford still remained in the family ; but 
it could no longer be kept up ; and in the following genera- 
tion it was sold to a merchant of London. 

4. Before this transfer took place, the last Hastings of 
Daylesford had presented his second son to the rectory of 
the parish in which the ancient residence of the family 
stood. The living was of little value ; and the situation of 
the poor clergyman, after the sale of the estate, was deplor- 
able. He was constantly engaged in lawsuits about his 
tithes with the new lord of the manor, and was at length 
utterly ruined. His eldest son, Howard, a well-conducted 
young man, obtained a place in the Customs. The second 
son, Pynaston, an idle worthless boy, married before he 
was sixteen, lost his wife in two years, and died in the 
West Indies, leaving to the care of his unfortunate father 
a little orphan, destined to strange and memorable vicissi- 
tudes of fortune. 

5. Warren, the son of Pynaston, was born on the sixth of 
December, 1732. His mother died a few days later, and he 
was left dependent on his distressed grandfather. The 
child was early sent to the village school, where he learned 
his letters on the same bench with the sons of the peas- 
antry ; nor did anything in his garb or fare indicate that 
his life was to take a widely different course from that of 
the young rustics with whom he studied and played. But 
no cloud could overcast the dawn of so much genius and so 



22 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

much ambition. The very ploughmen observedj and long 
remembered, how kindly little Warren took to his book. 
The daily sight of the lands which his ancestors had pos- 
sessed, and which had passed into the hands of strangers, 
filled his young brain with wild fancies and projects. He 
loved to hear stories of the wealth and greatness of his pro- 
genitors, of their spendid housekeeping, their loyalty, and 
their valor. On one bright summer day, the boy, then just 
seven years old, lay on the bank of the rivulet which flows 
through the old domain of his house to join the Isis. There, 
as threescore and ten years later he told the tale, rose in 
his mind a scheme which, through all the turns of his event- 
ful career, was never abandoned. He would recover the 
estate which had belonged to his fathers. He would be 
Hastings of Daylesford. This purpose, formed in infancy 
and poverty, grew stronger as his intellect expanded and as 
his fortune rose. He pursued his plan with that calm but 
indomitable force of will which was the most striking pecu- 
liarity of his character. When, under a tropical sun, he 
ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his hopes, amidst all the 
cares of war, finance, and legislation, still pointed to 
Daylesford. And when his long public life, so singularly 
chequered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had 
at length closed for ever, it was to Daylesford that he 
retired to die. 

6. When he was eight years old, his uncle Howard deter- 
mined to take charge of him, and to give him a liberal edu- 
cation. The boy went up to London, and was sent to a 
school at Newington, where he was well taught but ill fed. 
He always attributed the smallness of his stature to the hard 
and scanty fare of this seminary. At ten he was removed 
to Westminster school, then flourishing under the care of 
Dr. Nichols. Vinny Bourne, as his pupils affectionately 
called him, was one of the masters. Churchill, Colman, 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 23 

Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, were among the students. 
With Cowper Hastings formed a friendship which neither 
the lapse of time, nor a wide dissimilarity of opinions and 
pursuits, could wholly dissolve. It does not appear that 
they ever met after they had grown to manhood. But forty 
years later, when the voices of many great orators were 
crying for vengeance on the oppressor of India, the shy and 
secluded poet could image to himself Hastings the Governor- 
General only as the Hastings with whom he had rowed on 
the Thames and played in the cloister, and refused to believe 
that so good-tempered a fellow could have done anything 
very wrong. His own life had been spent in praying, mus- 
ing, and rhyming among the water-lilies of the Ouse. He 
had preserved in no common measure the innocence of 
childhood. His spirit had indeed been severely tried, but 
not by temptations which impelled him to any gross viola- 
tion of the rules of social morality. He had never been 
attacked by combinations of powerful and deadly enemies. 
He had never been compelled to make a choice between 
innocence and greatness, between crime and ruin. Firmly 
as he held in theory the doctrine of human depravity, his 
habits were such that he was unable to conceive how far 
from the path of right even kind and noble natures may be 
hurried by the rage of conflict and the lust of dominion. 

7. Hastings had another associate at Westminster of 
whom we shall have occasion to make frequent mention, 
Elijah Impey. We know little about their school days. 
But, we think, we may safely venture to guess that, when- 
ever Hastings wished to play any trick more than usually 
naughty, he hired Impey with a tart or a ball to act as fag 
in the worst part of the prank. 

8. Warren was distinguished among his comrades as an 
excellent swimmer, boatman, and scholar. At fourteen he 
was first in the examination for the foundation. His name 



24 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

in gilded letters on tlie walls of the dormitory still attests 
his victory over many older competitors. He stayed two 
years longer at the school, and was looking forward to a 
studentship at Christ Church, when an event happened 
which changed the whole course of his life. Howard Hastr 
ings died, bequeathing his nephew to the care of a friend 
and distant relation, named Chiswick. This gentleman, 
though he did not absolutely refuse the charge, was desir- 
ous to rid himself of it as soon as possible. Dr. Nichols 
made strong remonstrances against the cruelty of interrupt- 
ing the studies of a youth who seemed likely to be one of 
the first scholars of the age. He even offered to bear the 
expense of sending his favorite pupil to Oxford. But Mr. 
Chiswick was inflexible. He thought the years which had 
already been wasted on hexameters and pentameters quite 
sufficient. He had it in his power to obtain for the lad a 
writership in the service of the East India Company. 
Whether the young adventurer, when once shipped off, 
made- a fortune, or died of a liver complaint, he equally 
ceased to be a burden to anybody. Warren was accord- 
ingly removed from Westminster school, and placed for a 
few months at a commercial academy, to study arithmetic 
and bookkeeping.. In January, 1750, a few days after he 
had completed his seventeenth year, he sailed for Bengal, 
and arrived at his destination in the October following, 

9. He was immediately placed at a desk in the Secretary's 
office at Calcutta^ and labored there during two years. 
Fort William was then a purely commercial settlement. In 
the south of India the encroaching policy of Dupleix had 
transformed the servants of the English company, against 
their will, into diplomatists and generals. The war of the 
succession was raging in the Carnatic ; and the tide had 
been suddenly turned against the French by the genius of 
young Bobert Clive. But in Bengal the European settlers, 



Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 25 

at peace with the natives and with each other, were wholly 
occupied with ledgers and bills of lading. 

10. After two years passed in keeping accounts at Cal- 
cutta, Hastings was sent up the country to Cossimbazar, a 
town which lies on the Hoogley, about a mile from Moor- 
shedabad, and which then bore to Moorshedabad a relation, 
if we may compare small things with great, such as the city 
of London bears to Westminster. Moorshedabad was the 
abode of the prince who, by an authority ostensibly derived 
from the Mogul, but really independent, ruled the three 
great provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. At Moor- 
shedabad were the court, the harem, and the public offices. 
Cossimbazar was a port and a place of trade, renowned for 
the quantity and excellence of the silks which were sold in 
its marts, and constantly receiving and sending forth fleets 
of richly laden barges. At this important point, the Com- 
pany had established a small factory subordinate to that of 
Fort William. Here, during several years, Hastings was 
employed in making bargains for stuffs with native brokers. 
While he was thus engaged, Surajah Dowlah succeeded to 
the government, and declared war against the English. 
The defenceless settlement of Cossimbazar, lying close to 
the tyrant's capital, was instantly seized. Hastings was 
sent a prisoner to Moorshedabad, but, in consequence of the 
humane intervention of the servants of the Dutch Com- 
pany, was treated with indulgence. Meanwhile the Nabob 
marched on Calcutta ; the governor and the commandant 
fled; the town and citadel were taken, and most of the 
English prisoners perished in the Black Hole. 

11. In these events originated the greatness of Warren 
Hastings. The fugitive governor and his companions had 
taken refuge on the dreary islet of Fulda, near the mouth of 
the Hoogley. They were naturally desirous to obtain full 
information respecting the proceedings of the Nabob ; and 



26 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

no person seemed so likely to furnish it as Hastings, who 
was a prisoner at large in the immediate neighborhood of 
the court. He thus became a diplomatic agent, and soon 
established a high character for ability and resolution. The 
treason which at a later period was fatal to Surajah Dowlah 
was already in progress ; and Hastings was admitted to the 
deliberations of the conspirators. But the time for strik- 
ing had not arrived. It was necessary to postpone the 
execution of the design; and Hastings, who was now in 
extreme peril, fled to Fulda. 

12. Soon after his arrival at Fulda, the expedition from 
Madras, commanded by Clive, appeared in the Hoogley; 
Warren, young, intrepid, and excited probably by the ex- 
ample of the Commander of the Forces who, having like 
himself been a mercantile agent of the Company, had been 
turned by public calamities into a soldier, determined to 
serve in the ranks. During the early operations of the war 
he carried a musket. But the quick eye of Clive soon per- 
ceived that the head of the young volunteer would be more 
useful than his arm. When, after the battle of Plassey, 
Meer Jafiier was proclaimed Nabob of Bengal, Hastings 
was appointed to reside at the court of the new prince as 
agent for the Company. 

13. He remained at Moorshedabad till the year 1761, 
when he became a member of Council, and was consequently 
forced to reside at Calcutta. This was during the interval 
between Clive' s first and second administration, an interval 
which has left on the fame of the East India Company a 
stain, not wholly effaced by many years of just and humane 
government. Mr. Vansittart, the Governor, was at the 
head of a new and anomalous empire. On the one side was 
a band of English functionaries, daring, intelligent, eager to 
be rich. On the other side was a great native population, 
helpless, timid, accustomed to crouch under oppression. . 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 27 

To keep the stronger race from preying on the weaker, was 
an undertaking which tasked to the utmost the talents and 
energy of Clive. Vansittart, with fair intentions, was a 
feeble and inefficient ruler. The master caste, as was nat- 
ural, broke loose from all restraint; and then was seen 
what we believe to be the most frightful of all spectacles, 
the strength of civilization without its mercy. To all other 
despotism there is a check, imperfect indeed, and liable to 
gross abuse, but still sufficient to preserve society from the 
last extreme of misery. A time comes when the evils of 
submission are obviously greater than those of resistance,. 
when fear itself begejbs a sort of courage, when a convulsive 
burst of popular rage and despair warns tyrants not to 
presume too far on the patience of mankind. But against 
misgovernment such as then afflicted Bengal it was impos- 
sible to struggle. The superior intelligence and energy of 
the dominant class made their power irresistible. A war 
of Bengalees against Englishmen was like a war of sheep 
against wolves, of men against demons. The only protec- 
tion which the conquered could find was in the moderation, 
the clemency, the enlarged policy of the conquerors. That 
protection, at a later period, they found. But at first Eng- 
lish power came among them unaccompanied by English 
morality. There was an interval between the time at which 
they became our subjects, and the time at which we began 
to reflect that we were bound to discharge towards them the 
duties of rulers. During that interval the business of a 
servant of the Company was simply to wring out of the 
natives a hundred or two hundred thousand pounds as 
speedily as possible, that he might return home before his 
constitution had suffered from the heat, to marry a peer's 
daughter, to buy rotten boroughs in Cornwall, and to give 
balls in St. James's Square. Of the conduct of Hastings 
at this time little is known ;- but the little that is known, 



28 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

and the circumstance that little is known, must be consid- 
ered as honorable to him. He could not protect the natives : 
all that he could do was to abstain from plundering and 
oppressing them; and this he appears to have done. It is 
certain that at this time he continued poor ; and it is 
equally certain that by cruelty and dishonesty he might 
easily have become rich. It is certain that he was never 
charged with having borne a share in the worst abuses which 
then prevailed ; and it is almost equally certain that, if he 
had borne a share in those abuses, the able and bitter 
enemies who afterwards persecuted him would not have 
failed to discover and to proclaim his guilt. The keen," 
severe, and even malevolent scrutiny to which his whole 
public life was subjected, a scrutiny unparalleled, as we 
believe, in the history of mankind, is in one respect advan- 
tageous to his reputation. It brought many lamentable 
blemishes to light ; but it entitles him to be considered pure 
from every blemish which has not been brought to light. 

14. The truth is that the temptations to which so many 
English functionaries yielded in the time of Mr. Yansittart 
were not temptations addressed to the ruling passions of 
Warren Hastings. He was not squeamish in pecuniary 
transactions ; but he was neither sordid nor rapacious. He 
was far too enlightened a man to look on a great empire 
merely as a buccaneer would look on a galleon. Had his 
heart been much worse than it was, his understanding 
would have preserved him from that extremity of baseness. 
He was an unscrupulous, perhaps an unprincipled, states- 
man ; but still he was a statesman, and not a freebooter. 

15. In 1764 Hastings returned to England. He had 
realized only a very moderate fortune ; and that moderate 
fortune was soon reduced to nothing, partly by his praise- 
worthy liberality, and partly by his mismanagement. 
Towards his relations he appears to have acted very gen- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 29 

erously. The greater part of his savings he left in Bengal, 
hoping probably to obtain the high usury of India. But 
high usury and bad security generally go together; and 
Hastings lost both interest and principal. 

16. He remained four years in England. Of his life at 
this time very little is known. But it has been asserted, 
and is highly probable, that liberal studies and the society 
of men of letters occupied a great part of his time. It is to 
be remembered to his honor that, in days when the lan- 
guages of the East were regarded by other servants of the 
Company merely as the means of communicating with 
weavers and money-changers, his enlarged and accom- 
plished mind sought in Asiatic learning for new forms 
of intellectual enjoyment, and for new views of government 
and society. Perhaps, like most persons who have paid 
much attention to departments of knowledge which lie 
out of the common track, he was inclined to overrate the 
value of his favorite studies. He conceived that the cul- 
tivation of Persian literature might with advantage be 
made a part of the liberal education of an English gentle- 
man ; and he drew up a plan with that view. It is said 
that the University of Oxford, in which Oriental learning 
had never, since the revival of letters, been wholly neg- 
lected, was to be the seat of the institution which he 
contemplated. An endowment was expected from the 
munificence of the Company : and professors thoroughly 
competent to interpret Hafiz and Ferdusi were to be en- 
gaged in the East. Hastings called on Johnson, with the 
hope, as it should seem, of interesting in this project a man 
who enjoyed the highest literary reputation, and who was 
particularly connected with Oxford. The interview appears 
to have left on Johnson's mind a most favorable impression 
of the talents and attainments of his visitor. Long after, 
when Hastings was ruling the immense population of Brit- 



30 Macaulay's Warren Hastings, 

ish India, the old philosopher wrote to him, and referred in 
the most courtly terms, though with great dignity, to their 
short but agreeable intercourse. 

17. Hastings soon began to look again towards India. 
He had little to attach him to England ; and his pecuniary 
embarrassments, were great. He solicited his old masters 
the Directors for employment. They acceded to his request, 
with high compliments both to his abilities and to his 
integrity, and appointed him a Member of Council at 
Madras. It would be unjust not to mention that, though 
forced to borrow money for his outfit, he did not withdraw 
any portion of the sum which he had appropriated to the 
relief of his distressed relations. In the spring of 1769 he 
embarked on board of the Diike of Grafton, and commenced 
a voyage distinguished by incidents which might furnish 
matter for a novel. 

18. Among the passengers in the Duke of Grafton was a 
German of the name of Imhoff. He called himself a Baron ; 
but he was in distressed circumstances, and was going out 
to Madras as a portrait-painter, in the hope of picking up 
some of the pagodas which were then lightly got and as 
lightly spent by the English in India. The Baron was 
accompanied by his wife, a native, we have somewhere 
read, of Archangel. This young woman who, born under 
the Arctic circle, was destined to play the part of a Queen 
under the tropic of Cancer, had an agreeable person, a cul- 
tivated mind, and manners in the highest degree engaging. 
She despised her husband heartily, and, as the story which 
we have to tell sufficiently proves, not without reason. She 
was interested by the conversation and flattered by the 
attentions of Hastings. The situation was indeed perilous. 
No place is so propitious to the formation either of close 
friendships or of deadly enmities as an Indiaman. There 
are very few people who do not find a voyage which lasts. 



Macaulays Warren Hastings. 31 

several months insupportably dull. Anything is welcome 
which may break that long monotony, a sail, a shark, an 
albatross, a man overboard. Most passengers find some 
resource in eating twice as many meals as on land. But 
the great devices for killing the time are quarrelling and 
flirting. The facilities for both these exciting pursuits are 
great. The inmates of the ship are thrown together far 
more than in any country-seat or boarding-house. None 
can escape from the rest except by imprisoning himself in 
a cell in which he can hardly turn. All food, all exercise, 
is taken in company. Ceremony is to a great extent ban- 
ished. It is every day in the power of a mischievous 
person to inflict innumerable annoyances. It is every day 
in the power of an amiable person to confer little services. 
It not seldom happens that serious distress and danger call 
forth, in genuine beauty and deformity, heroic virtues and 
abject vices which, in the ordinary intercourse of good 
society, might remain during many years unknown even to 
intimate associates. Under such circumstances met War- 
ren Hastings and the Baroness Imlioff, two persons whose 
accomplishments would have attracted notice in any court 
of Europe. The gentleman had no domestic ties. The lady 
was tied to a husband for whom she had no regard, and 
who had no regard for his own honor. An attachment 
sprang up, which was soon strengthened by events such as 
could hardly have occurred on land. Hastings fell ill. 
The Baroness nursed him with womanly tenderness, gave 
him his medicines with her own hand, and even sat up in 
his cabin while he slept. Long before the Duke of Grafton 
reached Madras, Hastings w^as in love. But his love was 
of a most characteristic description. Like his hatred, like 
his ambition, like all his passions, it was strong, but not 
impetuous. It was calm, deep, earnest, patient of delay, 
unconquerable by time. Imhoff was called into council by 



32 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

his wife and Ms wife's lover. It was arranged that the 
Baroness should institute a suit for a divorce in the courts 
of Franconia, that the Baron should afford every facility to 
the proceeding, and that, during the years which might 
elapse before the sentence should be pronounced, they 
should continue to live together. It was also agreed that 
Hastings should bestow some very substantial marks of 
gratitude on the complaisant husband, and should, when 
the marriage was dissolved, make the lady his wife, and 
adopt the children whom she had already borne to Imhoff. 

19. At Madras, Hastings found the trade of the Company 
in a very disorganized state. His own tastes would have led- 
him rather to political than to commercial pursuits : but he 
knew that the favor of his employers depended chiefly on 
their dividends, and that their dividends depended chiefly 
on the investment. He therefore, with great judgment, 
determined to apply his vigorous mind for a time to this 
department of business, which had been much neglectedj 
since the servants of the Company had ceased to be clerks, 
and had become warriors and negotiators. 

20. In a very few months he effected an important re- 
form. The Directors notified to him their high approbation, 
and were so much pleased with his conduct that they deter- 
mined to place him at the head of the government of Ben- 
gal. Early in 1772 he quitted Fort St. George for his new 
post. The Imhoff s, who were still man and wife, accom- 
panied him, and lived at Calcutta on the same plan which 
they had already followed during more than two years. 

21. When Hastings took his seat at the head of the coun- 
cil board, Bengal was still governed according to the system 
which Clive had devised, a system which was, perhaps, 
skilfully contrived for the purpose of facilitating and con- 
cealing a great revolution, but which, when that revolution 
was complete and irrevocable, could produce nothing but 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 33 

inconvenience. There were two governments, the real and 
the ostensible. The supreme power belonged to the Com- 
pany, and was in truth the most despotic power that can be 
conceived. The only restraint on the English masters of 
the country was that which their own justice and humanity 
imposed on them. There was no constitutional check on 
their will, and resistance to them was utterly hopeless. 

22. But, though thus absolute in reality, the English had 
not yet assumed the style of sovereignty. They held their 
territories as vassals of the throne of Delhi ; they raised 
their revenues as collectors appointed by the imperial 
commission ; their public seal was inscribed with the impe- 
rial titles ; and their mint struck only the imperial coin. 

23. There was still a nabob of Bengal, who stood to the 
English rulers of his country in the same relation in which 
Augustulus stood to Odoacer, or the last Merovingians to 
Charles Martel and Pepin. He lived at Moorshedabad, 
surrounded by princely magnificence. He was approached 
with outward marks of reverence, and his name was used 
in public instruments. But in the government of the coun- 
try he had less real share than the youngest writer or cadet 
in the Company's service. 

24. The English council which represented the Company 
at Calcutta was constituted on a very different plan from 
that which has since been adopted. At present the Governor 
is, as to all executive measures, absolute. He can declare 
war, conclude peace, appoint public functionaries or remove 
them, in opposition to the unanimous sense of those who 
sit with him in council. They are, indeed, entitled to 
know all that is done, to discuss all that is done, to advise, 
to remonstrate, to send protests to England. But it is with 
the Governor that the supreme power resides, and on him 
that the whole responsibility rests. This system, which 
was introduced by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas in spite of the 



34 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

strenuous opposition of Mr. Burke, we conceive to be on 
the whole the best that was ever devised for the govern- 
ment of a country where no materials can be found for a 
re]3resentative constitution. In the time of Hastings the 
Governor had only one vote in council, and, in case of an 
equal division, a casting vote. It therefore happened not 
unfrequently that he was overruled on the gravest ques- 
tions ; and it was possible that he might be wholly excluded, 
for years together, from the real direction of public affairs. 

25. The English functionaries at Fort William had as yet 
paid little or no attention to the internal government of 
Bengal. The only branch of politics about which they" 
much busied themselves was negotiation with the native 
princes. The police, the administration of justice, the 
details of the collection of revenue, were almost entirely 
neglected. We may remark that the phraseology of the 
Company's servants still bears the traces of this state of 
things. To this day they always use the word " political " 
as synonymous with " diplomatic." We could name a gen- 
tleman still living, who was described by the highest 
authority as an invaluable public servant, eminently fit to 
be at the head of the internal administration of a whole 
presidency, but unfortunately quite ignorant of all political 
business. 

26. The internal government of Bengal the English rulers 
delegated to a great native minister, who was stationed at 
Moorshedabad. All military affairs, and, with the excep- 
tion of what pertains to mere ceremonial, all foreign affairs, 
were withdrawn from his control ; but the other departments 
of the administration were entirely confided to him. His 
own stipend amounted to near a hundred thousand pounds 
sterling a year. The personal allowance of the nabob, 
amounting to more than three hundred thousand pounds 
a year, passed through the minister's hands, and was, to a 



Macaulay's Warren Hastirigs. 35 

great extent, at his disposal. The collection of the rev- 
enue, the administration of justice, the maintenance of 
order, were left to this high functionary ; and for the exer- 
cise of his immense power he was responsible to none but 
the British masters of the country. 

27. A situation so important, lucrative, and splendid, 
was naturally an object of ambition to the ablest and most 
powerful natives. Clive had found it difficult to decide 
between conflicting pretensions. Two candidates stood out 
prominently from the crowd, each of them the representa- 
tive of a race and of a religion. 

28. One of these was Mahommed Eeza Khan, a Mussul- 
man of Persian extraction, able, active, religious after the 
fashion of his people, and highly esteemed by them. In Eng- 
land he might perhaps have been regarded as a corrupt and 
greedy politician. But, tried by the lower standard of 
Indian morality, he might be considered as a man of 
integrity and honor. 

29. His competitor was a Hindoo Brahmin whose name 
has, by a terrible and melancholy event, been inseparably 
associated with that of Warren Hastings, the Maharajah Nun- 
comar. This man had played an important part in all the 
revolutions which, since the time of Surajah Dowlah, had 
taken place in Bengal. To the consideration which in that 
country belongs to high and pure caste, he added the weight 
which it derived from wealth, talents, and experience. Of 
his moral character it is difficult to give a notion to those 
who are acquainted with human nature only as it appears 
in our island. What the Italian is to the Englishman, 
what the Hindoo is to the Italian, what the Bengalee is to 
other Hindoos, that was Nuncomar to other Bengalees. 
The physical organization of the Bengalee is feeble even to 
effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapor bath. His pur- 
suits are sedentary, his linibs delicate, his movements 



36 Macaulays Warren Hastings. 

languid. During many ages lie has been trampled upon hy- 
men of bolder and more hardy breeds. Courage, indepen- 
dence, veracity, are qualities to which his constitution and 
his situation are equally * unfavorable. His mind bears a 
singular analogy to his body. It is weak even to helpless- 
ness for purposes of manly resistance ; but its suppleness 
and its tact move the children of sterner climates to 
admiration not unmingled with contempt. All those arts 
which are the natural defence of the weak are more famil- 
iar to this subtle race than to the Ionian of the time of 
Juvenal, or to the Jew of the dark ages. What the horns 
are to the buffalo, what the paw is to the tiger, what the 
sting is to the bee, what beauty, according to the old Greek 
song, is to woman, deceit is to the Bengalee. Large prom- 
ises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial 
falsehood, chicanery, perjury, forgery, are the weapons, 
offensive and defensive, of the people of the Lower Ganges. 
All those millions do not furnish one sepoy to the armies 
of the Company. But as usurers, as money-changers, as 
sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear 
a comparison with them. With all his softness, the Ben- 
galee is by no means placable in his enmities or prone to 
pity. The pertinacity w^ith which he adheres to his pur- 
poses yields only to the immediate pressure of fear. Nor 
does he lack a certain kind of courage which is often 
wanting to his masters. To inevitable evils he is sometimes 
found to oppose a passive fortitude, such as the Stoics 
attributed to their ideal sage. A European warrior, who 
rushes on a battery of cannon with a loud hurrah, will 
sometimes shriek under the surgeon's knife, and fall into 
an agony of despair at the sentence of death. But the 
Bengalee, who would see his country overrun, his house 
laid in ashes, his children murdered or dishonored, without 
having the spirit to strike one blow, has, yet been known to 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 37 

endure torture witli the firmness of Mucins, and to mount 
the scaffold with the steady step and even pulse of Algernon 
Sidney. 

30. In Nuncomar, the national character was strongly and 
with exaggeration personified. The Company's servants 
had repeatedly detected him in the most criminal intrigues. 
On one occasion he brought a false charge against another 
Hindoo, and tried to substantiate it by producing forged 
documents. On another occasion it was discovered that, 
while professing the strongest attachment to the English, 
he was eilgaged in several conspiracies against them, and 
in particular that he was the medium of a correspondence 
between the court of Delhi and the French authorities in 
the Carnatic. For these and similar practices he had been 
long detained in confinement. But his talents and influence 
had not only procured his liberation, but had obtained for 
him a certain degree of consideration even among the 
British rulers of his country. 

31 . Clive was extremely unwilling to place a Mussulman at 
the head of the administration of Bengal. On the other 
hand, he could not bring himself to confer immense power 
on a man to whom every sort of villainy had repeatedly 
been brought home. Therefore, though the nabob, over 
whom Nuncomar had by intrigue acquired great influence, 
begged that the artful Hindoo might be intrusted with the 
government, Clive, after some hesitation, decided hon- 
estly and wisely in favor of Mahommed Reza Khan. When 
Hastings became' Governor, Mahommed Reza Khan had 
held power seven years. An infant son of Meer Jaffier 
was now nabob ; and the guardianship of the 3^oung prince's 
person had been confided to the minister. 

32. Nuncomar, stimulated at once by cupidity and malice, 
had been constantly attempting to hurt the reputation of 
his successful rival. This was. not difficult. The revenues 



38 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

of Bengal, under the administration established by Clive, 
did not yield such a surplus as had been anticipated by the 
Company ; for, at that time, the most absurd notions were 
entertained in England respecting the wealth of India. 
Palaces of porphyry, hung with the richest brocade, heaps 
of pearls and diamonds, vaults from which pagodas and 
gold mohurs were measured out by the bushel, filled the 
imagination even of men of business. Nobody seemed to 
be aware of what nevertheless was most undoubtedly the 
truth, that India was a poorer country than countries which 
in Europe are reckoned poor, than Ireland, for example, or 
than Portugal. It w^as confidently believed by Lords of 
the Treasury and members for the city that Bengal would 
not only defray its own charges, but would afford an 
increased dividend to the proprietors of India stock, and 
large relief to the English finances. These absurd expec- 
tations were disappointed ; and the Directors, naturally 
enough, chose to attribute the disappointment rather to the 
mismanagement of Mahommed E,eza Khan than to their 
own ignorance of the country intrusted to their care. They 
were confirmed in their error by the agents of Nuncomar ; 
for Nuncomar had agents even in Leadenhall Street. Soon 
after Hastings iieached Calcutta, he received a letter 
addressed by the Court of Directors, not to the Council 
generally, but to himself in particular. He was directed to 
remove Mahommed Eeza Khan, to arrest him, together 
with all his family and all his partisans, and to institute a 
strict inquiry into the whole administration of the province. 
In was added that the Governor would do well to avail 
himself of the assistance of ISTuncomar in the investigation. 
The vices of ISTuncomar were acknowledged. But even 
from his vices, it was said, much advantage might at such 
a conjuncture be derived; and, though he could not safely 
be trusted, it might still be proper to encourage him by 
hopes of reward. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 39 

33. The Governor bore no good will to Nnncomar. Many 
years before, they had known each other at Moorshedabad ; 
and then a quarrel had arisen between them which all the 
authority of their superiors could hardly compose. Widely 
as they differed in most points, they resembled each other 
in this, that both were men of unforgiving natures. To 
Mahommed Eeza Khan, on the other hand, Hastings had 
no feelings of hostility. Nevertheless he proceeded to 
execute the instructions of the Company with an alacrity 
which he never showed, except when instructions were in 
perfect conformity with his own views. He had, wisely as 
we think, determined to get rid of the system of double 
government in Bengal. The orders of the Directors fur- 
nished him with the means of effecting his purpose, and 
dispensed him from the necessity of discussing the matter 
with his Council. He took his measures with his usual 
vigor and dexterity. At midnight, the palace of Mahommed 
E-eza Khan at Moorshedabad was surrounded by a battalion 
of sepoys. The minister was roused from his slumbers 
and informed that he was a prisoner. With the Mussulman 
gravity, he bent his head and submitted himself to the will 
of God. He fell not alone. A chief named Schitab Eoy 
had been intrusted with the government of Bahar. His 
valor and his attachment to the English had more than 
once ' been signally proved. On that memorable day on 
which the people of Patna saw from their walls the whole 
army of the Mogul scattered by the little band of Captain 
Knox, the voice of the British conquerors assigned the 
palm of gallantry to the brave Asiatic. " I never," said 
Knox, when he introduced Schitab Boy, covered with blood 
and dust, to the English functionaries assembled in the 
factory, " I never saw a native fight so before." Schitab 
Boy w"as involved in the ruin of Mahommed Beza Khan, 
was removed from office, and was placed under arrest. The 



40 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

members of the Council received no intimation of these 
measures till the prisoners were on their road to Calcutta. 

34. The inquiry into the conduct of the minister was post- 
poned on different pretences. He was detained in an easy 
confinement during many months. In the meantime, the 
great revolution which Hastings had planned was carried 
into effect. The office of minister was abolished. The 
internal administration was transferred to the servants of 
the Company. A system, a very imperfect system, it is 
true, of civil and criminal justice, under English superin- 
tendence, was established. The nabob was no longer to 
have even an ostensible share in the government; but he' 
was still to receive a considerable annual allowance, and 
to be surrounded with the state of sovereignty. As he 
Was an infant, it was necessary to provide guardians for 
his person and property. His person was intrusted to a 
lady of his father's harem, known by the name of the 
Munny Begum. The office of treasurer of the household 
was bestowed on a son of Nuncomar, named Goordas. E"un- 
comar's services were wanted ; yet he could not safely be 
trusted with power ; and Hastings thought it a masterstroke 
of policy to reward the able and unprincipled parent by 
promoting the inoffensive child. 

35. The revolution completed, the double government dis- 
solved, the Company installed in the full sovereignty of 
Bengal, Hastings had no motive to treat the late ministers 
with rigor. Their trial had been put off on various pleas 
till the new organization was complete. They were then 
brought before a committee, over which the Governor pre.- 
sided. Schitab Roy was speedily acquitted with honor. 
A formal apology was made to him for the restraint to 
which he had been subjected. All the Eastern marks of 
respect were bestowed on him. He was clothed in a robe 
of state, presented with jewels and with. a richly harnessed. 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 41 

elephantj and sent back to his government at Patna. But 
his health had suffered from confinement ; his high spirit 
had been cruelly wounded ; and soon after his liberation he 
died of a broken heart. 

36. The innocence of Mahommed E-eza Khan was not so 
clearly established. But the Governor was not disposed to 
deal harshly. After a long hearing, in which Nuncomar 
appeared as the accuser, and displayed both the art and the 
inveterate rancor which distinguished him, Hastings pro- 
nounced that the charges had not been made out, and ordered 
the fallen minister to be set at liberty. 

37. Kuncomar had purposed to destroy the Mussulman 
administration, and to rise on its ruin. Both his malevo- 
lence and his. cupidity had been disappointed. Hastings 
had made him a tool, had used him for the purpose of 
accomplishing the transfer of the government from Moor- 
shedabad to Calcutta, from native to European hands. The 
rival, the enemy, so long envied, so implacably persecuted, 
had been dismissed unhurt. The situation so long and 
ardently desired had been abolished. It was natural that the 
Governor should be from that time an object of the most 
intense hatred to the vindictive Brahmin. As yet, how- 
ever, it was necessary to suppress such feelings. The time 
was coming when that long animosity was to end in a 
desperate and deadly struggle. 

38. In the meantime, Hastings was compelled to turn his 
attention to foreign affairs. The object of his diplomacy 
was at this time simply to get money. The finances of his 
government were in an embarrassed state ; and this embar- 
rassment he was determined to relieve by some means, fair 
or foul. The principle which directed all his dealings with 
his neighbors is fully expressed by the old motto of one of 
the great predatory families of Teviotdale, " Thou shalt 
want ere I want." He seems to have laid it down, as a 



42 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

fundamental proposition wMcli could not be disputed, that, 
when he had not as many lacs of rupees as the public ser- 
vice required, he was to take them from anybody who had. 
One thing, indeed, is to be said in excuse for him. The 
pressure applied to him by his employers at home, was 
such as only the highest virtue could have withstood, such 
as left him no choice except to commit great wrongs, or to 
resign his high post, and with that post all his hopes of 
fortune and distinction. The Directors, it is true, never 
enjoined or applauded any crime. Far from it. Whoever 
examines their letters written at that time will find there 
many just and humane sentiments, many excellent precepts, ' 
in short, an admirable code of political ethics. But every 
exhortation is modified or nullified by a demand for money. 
" Govern leniently, and send more money ; practice strict 
justice and moderation towards neighboring powers, and 
send more money; " this is in truth the sum of almost all 
the instructions that Hastings ever received from home. 
Now these instructions, being interpreted, mean simply, 
" Be the father and the oppressor of the people ; be just and 
unjust, moderate and rapacious." The Directors dealt with 
India, as the church, in the good old times, dealt with a 
heretic. They delivered the victim over to the execu- 
tioners, with an earnest request that all possible tenderness 
might be shown. We by no means accuse or suspect those 
who framed these despatches of hypocrisy. It is probable 
that, writing fifteen thousand miles from the place where 
their orders were to be carried into effect, they never per- 
ceived the gross inconsistency of which they were guilty. 
But the inconsistency was at once manifest to their vice- 
gerent at Calcutta, who, with an empty treasury, with an 
unpaid army, with his own salary often in arrear, with 
deficient crops, with government tenants daily running 
away, was called upon to remit home, another half mil-. 



Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 43 

lion without fail. Hastings saw that it was absolutely 
necessary for him to disregard either the moral discourses 
or the pecuniary requisitions of his employers. Being 
forced to disobey them in something, he had to consider 
what kind of disobedience they would most readily pardon ; 
and he correctly judged that the safest course would be to 
neglect the sermons and to find the rupees. 

39. A mind so fertile as his, and so little restrained by 
conscientious scruples, speedily discovered several modes of 
relieving the financial embarrassments of the government. 
The allowance of the Nabob of Bengal was reduced at a 
stroke from three hundred and twenty thousand pounds a 
year to half that sum. The Company had bound itself to 
pay near three hundred thousand pounds a year to the Great 
Mogul, as a mark of homage for the provinces which he had 
intrusted to their care ; and they had ceded to him the dis- 
tricts of Corah and Allahabad. On the plea that the Mogul 
was not reall}^ independent, but merely a tool in the hands 
of others, Hastings determined to retract these concessions. 
He accordingly declared that the English would pay no 
more tribute, and sent troops to occupy Allahabad and 
Corah. The situation of these places was such, that there 
would be little advantage and great expense in retaining 
them. Hastings, who wanted money and not territory, 
determined to sell them. A purchaser was not wanting. 
Thie rich province of Oude had, in the general dissolution 
of the Mogul Empire, fallen to the share of the great 
Mussulman house by which it is still governed. About 
twenty years ago, this house, by the permission of the 
British government, assumed the royal title ; but, in the 
time of Warren Hastings, such an assumption would have 
been considered by the Mahommedans of India as a mon- 
strous impiety. The Prince of Oude, though he held the 
power, did not venture to us© the style of sovereignty. To 



44 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

the appellation of Nabob or Yiceroj, lie added that of 
Vizier of the monarchy of Hindostan, just as in the last 
century the Electors of Saxony and Bradenburg, though 
independent of the Emperor, and often in arms against him, 
were proud to style themselves his Grand Chamberlain and 
Grand Marshal. Sujah Dowlah, then Nabob Vizier, was on 
excellent terms with the English. He had a large treasure. 
Allahabad and Corah were so situated that they might be 
of use to him and could be of none to the Company. The 
buyer and seller soon came to an understanding ; and the 
provinces which had been torn from the Mogul were made 
over to the government of Oude for about half a million" 
sterling. 

40. But there was another matter still more important to 
be settled by the Vizier and the Governor. The fate of a 
brave people was to be decided. It was decided in a man- 
ner which has left a lasting stain on the fame of Hastings 
and of England. 

41. The people of Central Asia had always been to the 
inhabitants of India what the warriors of the German 
forests were to the subjects of the decaying monarchy of 
Bome. The dark, slender, and timid Hindoo shrank from 
a conflict with the -strong muscle and resolute spirit of the 
fair race which dwelt beyond their passes. There is reason 
to believe that, at a period anterior to the dawn of regular 
history, the people who spoke the rich and flexible Sanscrit 
came from regions lying far beyond the Hyphasis and the 
Hystaspes, and imposed their yoke on the children of the 
soil. It is certain that, during the last ten centuries, a 
succession of invaders descended from the west onHindo- 
stan ; nor was the course of conquest ever turned back tow- 
ards the setting sun, till that memorable campaign in 
which the cross of Saint George wa^ planted on the walls 
of Ghizni. 



Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 45 

42. The Emperors of Hindostan themselves came from 
the other side of the great mountain ridge; and it had 
always been their practice to recruit their army from the 
hardy and valiant race from which their own illustrious 
house sprang. Among the military adventurers who were 
allured to the Mogul standards from the neighborhood of 
Cabul and Candahar, were conspicuous several gallant bands, 
known by the name of the Eohillas. Their services had 
been rewarded with large tracts of land, fiefs of the spear, 
if we may use an expression drawn from an analogous state 
of things, in that fertile plain through which the Eamgunga 
flows from the snowy heights of Kumaon to join the Ganges. 
In the general confusion which followed the death of Au- 
rungzebe, the warlike colony became virtually independent. 
The Eohillas were distinguished from the other inhabitants of 
India by a peculiarly fair complexion. They were more 
honorably distinguished by courage in war, and by skill in 
the arts of peace. While anarchy raged from Lahore to 
Cape Comorin, their little territory enjoyed the blessings of 
repose under the guardianship of valor. Agriculture and 
commerce flourished among them ; nor were they negligent 
of rhetoric and poetry. Many persons now living have 
heard aged men talk with regret of the golden days when 
the Afghan princes ruled in the vale of Rohilcund. 

43. Sujah Dowlah had set his heart on adding this rich 
district to his own principality. Right or show of right, he 
had absolutely none. His claim was in no respect better 
founded than that of Catherine to Poland, or that of the 
Bonaparte family to Spain. The Eohillas held their coun- 
try by exactly the same title by which he held his, and had 
governed their country far better than his had ever been 
governed. ISTor were they a people whom it was perfectly 
safe to attack. Their land was indeed an open plain desti- 
tute of natural defences ; but their veins were full of the 



46 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

high blood of Afghanistan. As soldiers, they had not the 
steadiness which is seldom found except in company with 
strict discipline ; but their impetuous valor had been proved 
on many fields of battle. It was said that their chiefs, 
when united by common peril, could bring eighty thousand 
men into the field. Sujah Dowlah had himself seen them 
fight, and wisely shrank from a conflict with them. There 
was in India one army, and only one, against which even 
those proud Caucasian tribes could not stand. It had been 
abundantly proved that neither tenfold odds, nor the mar- 
tial ardor of the boldest Asiatic nations, could avail aught 
against English science and resolution. Was it possible to 
induce the Governor of Bengal to let out to hire the irresist- 
ible energies of the imperial people, the skill against which 
the ablest chiefs of Hindostan were helpless as infants, the 
discipline which had so often triumphed over the frantic 
struggles of fanaticism and despair, the unconquerable 
British courage which is never so sedate and stubborn as 
towards the close of a doubtful and murderous day ? 

44. This was what the Nabob Vizier asked, and what 
Hastings granted. A bargain was soon struck. Each of 
the negotiators had what the other wanted. Hastings was 
in need of funds to carry on the government of Bengal, and 
to send remittances to London ; and Sujah Dowlah had an 
ample revenue. Sujah Dowlah was bent on subjugating 
the Eohillas ; and Hastings had at his disposal the only 
force by which the Eohillas could be subjugated. It was 
agreed that an English army should be lent to the Nabob 
Vizier, and that, for the loan, he should pay four hundred 
thousand pounds sterling, besides defraying all the charge 
of the troops while employed in his service. 

45. " I really cannot see," says Mr. Gleig, " upon what 
grounds, either of political or moral justice, this proposition 
deserves to be stigmatized as infamous." If we understand 



Macaulay^ s Warren Hastings. 47 

the meaning of words, it is infamous to commit a wicked 
action for hire, and it is wicked to engage in war without 
provocation. In this particular war, scarcely one aggravat- 
ing circumstance was wanting. The object of the Eohilla 
war was this, to deprive a large population, who had never 
done us the least harm, of a good government, and to place 
them, against their will, under an execrably bad one. Nay, 
even this is not all. England now descended far below the 
level even of those petty German princes Avho, about the 
same time, sold us troops to fight the Americans. The 
hussar-mongers of Hesse and Anspach had at least the 
assurance that the expeditions on which their soldiers were 
to be employed would be conducted in conformity with the 
humane rules of civilized warfare. Was the Eohilla war 
likely to be so conducted? Did the Governor stipulate 
that it should be so conducted? He well knew what In- 
dian warfare was. He well knew that the power which he 
covenanted to put into Sujah Dowlah's hands would, in all 
probability, be atrociously abused ; and he required no 
guarantee, no promise that it should not be so abused. He 
did not even reserve to himself the right of withdrawing 
his aid in case of abuse, however gross. We are almost 
ashamed to notice Major Scott's absurd plea, that Hastings 
was justified in letting out English troops to slaughter the 
Eohillas, because the Rohillas were not of Indian race, but 
a colony from a distant country. What were the English 
themselves ? Was it for them to proclaim a crusade for 
the expulsion of all intruders fromx the countries watered 
by the Ganges ? Did it lie in their mouths to contend that 
a foreign settler who establishes an empire in India is a 
ca^out lupinumf What would they have said if any other 
power had, on such a ground, attacked Madras or Calcutta 
without the slightest provocation ? Such a defence was 
wanting to make the infamy of the transaction complete. 



48 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

The atrocity of the crime, and the hypocrisy of the apology, 
are worthy of each other. 

46. One of the three brigades of which the Bengal army 
consisted was sent under Colonel Champion to join Sujah 
Dowlah's forces. The E,ohillas expostulated, entreated, 
offered a large ransom, but in vain. They then resolved 
to defend themselves to the last. A bloody battle was 
fought. '^The enemy," says Colonel Champion, '^ gave 
proof of a good share of military knowledge ; and it is 
impossible to describe a more obstinate firmness of resolu- 
tion than they displayed." The dastardly sovereign of 
Oude fled from the field. The English were left unsup-' 
ported; but their fire and their charge were irresistible. 
It was not, however, till the most distinguished chiefs had 
fallen, fighting bravely at the head of their troops, that the 
Eohilla ranks gave way. Then the Nabob Vizier and his 
rabble made their appearance, and hastened to plunder the 
camp of the valiant enemies, whom they had never dared to 
look in the face. The soldiers of the Company, trained in 
an exact discii^line, kept unbroken order, while the tents 
were pillaged by these worthless allies. But many voices 
were heard to exclaim, " We have had all the fighting, and 
those rogues are to -have all the profit." 

47. Then the horrors oi Indian war were let loose on 
the fair valleys and cities of Eohilcund. The whole country 
was in a blaze. More than a hundred thousand people fled 
from their homes to pestilential jungles, preferring famine, 
and fever, and the haunts of tigers, to the tyranny of him, 
to whom an English and a Christian government had, for 
shameful lucre, sold their substance, and their blood, and 
the honor of their wives and daughters. Colonel Champion 
remonstrated with the Nabob Vizier, and sent strong rep- 
resentations to Fort William; but the Governor had made 
no conditions as to the mode in which the war was to be 



Macaulay'% Warren Hastings. 49 

carried on. He had troubled himself about nothing but his 
forty lacs; and; though he might disapprove of Sujah 
Dowlah's wanton barbarity, he did not think himself en- 
titled to interfere, except by offering advice. This delicacy 
excites the admiration of the biographer. " Mr. Hastings," 
he says, "could not himself dictate to the Nabob, nor per- 
mit the commander of the Company's troops to dictate how 
the war was to be carried on." No, to be sure. Mr. Hast- 
ings had only to put down by main force the brave struggles 
of innocent men fighting for their liberty. Their military re- 
sistance crushed, his duties ended ; and he had then only to 
fold his arms and lool^: on, while their villages were burned, 
their children butchered, and their women violated. Will 
Mr. G-leig seriously maijitain this opinion ? Is any rule more 
plain than this, that whoever voluntarily gives to another 
irresistible power over human beings is bound to take order 
that such power shall not be barbarously abused? But 
we beg pardon of our readers for arguing a point so clear. 

48. We hasten to the end of this sad and disgraceful story. 
The war ceased. The finest population in India was sub- 
jected to a greedy, cowardly, cruel tyrant. Commerce and 
agriculture languished. The rich province which had 
tempted the cupidity of Sujah Dowlah became the most 
miserable part even of his miserable dominions. Yet is the 
injured nation not extinct. At long intervals gleams of its 
ancient spirit have flashed forth; and even at this day, 
valor, and self-respect, and a chivalrous feeling rare among 
Asiatics, and a bitter remembrance of the great crime of 
England, distinguish that noble Afghan race. To this day 
they are regarded as the best of all sepoys at the cold steel ; 
and it was very recently remarked, by one who had enjoyed 
great opportunities of observation, that the only natives of 
India to whom the word "gentleman" can with perfect 
propriety be applied, are to be .found among the Eohillas. 



50 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

49. Whatever we may think of the morality of Hastings, 
it cannot be denied that the financial results of his policy 
did honor to his talents. In less than two years after he 
assumed the government, he had, without imposing any 
additional burdens on the people subject to his authority, 
added about four hundred and lifty thousand pounds to the 
annual income of the Company, besides procuring about a 
million in ready money. He had also relieved the finances 
of Bengal from military expenditure, amounting to near a 
quarter of a million a year, and had thrown that charge on 
the Nabob of Oude. There can be no doubt that this was a 
result which, if it had been obtained by honest means, would 
have entitled him to the warmest gratitude of his country, 
and which, by whatever means obtained, proved that he 
possessed great talents for administration. 

50. In the meantime. Parliament had been engaged in 
long and grave discussions on Asiatic affairs. The ministry 
of Lord North, in the session of 1773, introduced a measure 
which made a considerable change in the constitution of 
the Indian government. This law, known by the name of 
the Eegulating Act, provided that the presidency of Bengal 
should exercise a control over the other possessions of the 
Company ; that the chief of that presidency should be 
styled Governor-General ; that he should be assisted by 
four Councillors ; and that a supreme court of judicature, 
consisting of a chief justice and three inferior judges, 
should be established at Calcutta. This court was made 
independent of the Governor-General and Council, and was 
intrusted with a civil and criminal jurisdiction of immense 
and, at the same time, of undefined extent. 

51. The Governor-General and Councillors were named in 
the act, and were to hold their situations for five years. 
Hastings was to be the first Governor-General. One of the 
four new Councillors, Mr. Barwell, an experienced servant of 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 51 

the Company, was then in India. The other three, General 
Clavering, Mr. Monson, and Mr. Francis, were sent out 
from England. 

52. The ablest of the new Councillors was, beyond all 
doubt, Philip Francis. His acknowledged compositions 
prove that he possessed considerable eloquence and informa- 
tion. Several years passed in the public offices had formed 
him to habits of business. His enemies have never denied 
that he had a fearless and manly spirit ; and his friends, we 
are afraid, must acknowledge that his estimate of himself 
was extravagantly high, that his temper was irritable, that 
his deportment was often rude and petulant, and that his 
hatred was of intense bitterness and long duration. 

53. It is scarcely possible to mention this eminent man 
without adverting for a moment to the question which his 
name at once suggests to every mind. Was he the author of 
the Letters of Junius ? Our own firm belief is that he was. 
The evidence is, we think, such as would support a verdict 
in a civil, nay, in a criminal proceeding. The handwriting 
of Junius is the very peculiar handwriting of Francis, 
slightly disguised. As to the position, pursuits, and con- 
nections of Junius, the following are the most important 
facts which can be considered as clearly proved : first, that 
he was acquainted with the technical forms of the secretary 
of state's office ; secondly, that he was intimately acquainted 
with the business of the war-office ; thirdly, that he, during 
the year 1770, attended debates in the House of Lords, and 
took notes of speeches, particularly of the speeches of Lord 
Chatham ; fourthly, that he bitterly resented the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Chamier to the place of deputy secretary-at- 
war ; fifthly, that he was bound by some strong tie to the 
first Lord Holland. Now, Francis passed some years in 
the secretary of state's office. He was subsequently chief 
clerk of the war-office. He repeatedly mentioned that he 



52 Macaulay's Wa/rren Hastings. 

had himself, 4n 1770, heard speeches of Lord Chatham ; and 
some of these speeches were actually printed from his 
notes. He resigned his clerkship at the war-office from 
resentment at the appointment of Mr. Chamier. It was by 
Lord Holland that he was first introduced into the public 
service. Now, here are five marks, all of which ought to 
be found in Junius. They are all five found in Francis. We 
do not believe that more than two of them can be found in 
any other person whatever. H this argument does not 
settle the question, there is an end of all reasoning on cir- 
cumstantial evidence. 

54. The internal evidence seems to us to point the same ' 
way. The style of Francis bears a strong resemblance to 
that of Junius ; nor are we disposed to admit, what is gen- 
erally taken for granted, that the acknowledged compositions 
of Francis are very decidedly inferior to the anonymous 
letters. The argument from inferiority, at all events, is 
one which maybe urged with at least equal force against 
every claimant that has ever been mentioned, with the 
single exception of Burke ; and it would be a waste of time 
to prove that Burke was not Junius. And what conclusion, 
after all, can be drawn from mere inferiority ? Every 
writer must produce his best work ; and the interval be- 
tween his best work and his second best work may be 
very wide indeed. Nobody will say that the best letters of 
Junius are more decidedly superior to the acknowledged 
works of Francis than three or four of Corneille's tragedies 
to the rest, than three or four of Ben Jonson's comedies 
to the rest, than the Pilgrim's Progress to the other works of. 
Bunyan, than Don Quixote to the other works of Cervantes. 
ISTay, it is certain that Junius, whoever he may have been, 
was a most unequal writer. To go no further than the let- 
ters which bear the signature of Junius ; the letter to the 
King, and the letters to Home Tooke, have little in com- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastmgs. 53 

mon, except the asperity ; and asperity was an ingredient 
seldom wanting either in the writings or in the speeches of 
Francis. 

55. Indeed one of the strongest reasons for believing that 
Francis was Junius is the moral resemblance between the 
two men. It is not difficult, from the letters which, under 
various signatures, are known to have been written by Junius, 
and from his dealings with Woodfall and others, to form a 
tolerably correct notion of his character. He was clearly a 
man not destitute of real patriotism and magnanimity, a man 
whose vices were not of a sordid kind. But he must also 
have been a man in the highest degree arrogant and inso- 
lent, a man prone to malevolence, and prone to the error 
of mistaking his malevolence for public virtue. "Doest 
thou well to be angry ? " was the question asked in old time 
of the Hebrew prophet. And he answered, " I do well." 
This was evidently the temper of Junius ; and to this cause 
we attribute the savage cruelty which disgraces several of 
his letters. No man is so merciless as he who, under a 
strong self-delusion, confounds his antipathies with his 
duties. It may be added that Junius, though allied with 
the democratic party by common enmities, was the very 
opposite of a democratic politician. While attacking indi- 
viduals with a ferocity which perpetually violated all the 
laws of literary warfare, he regarded the most defective 
parts of old institutions with a respect amounting to pedan- 
try, pleaded the cause of Old Sarum with fervor, and con- 
temptuously told the capitalists of Manchester and Leeds 
that, if they wanted votes, they might buy land and become 
freeholders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. All this, we 
believe, might stand, with scarcely any change, for a 
character of Philip Francis. 

56. It is not strange that the great anonymous writer 
should have been willing at that time to leave the country 



54 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

which had been so powerfully stirred by his eloquence. 
Every thing had gone against him. That party which he 
clearly preferred to every other, the party of George Gren- 
ville, had been scattered by the death of its chief ; and Lord 
Suffolk had led the greater part of it over to the ministerial 
benches. The ferment produced by the Middlesex election 
had gone down. Every faction must have been alike an 
object of aversion to Junius. His opinions on domestic af- 
fairs separated him from the ministry ; his opinions on colo- 
nial affairs from the opposition. Under such circumstances, 
he had thrown down his pen in misanthropical despair. 
His farewell letter to Woodfall bears date the nineteenth 
of January, 1773. In that letter, he declared that he must 
be an idiot to write again ; that he had meant well by the 
cause and the public ; that both were given up ; that there 
were not ten men who would act steadily together on any 
question. " But it is all alike," he added, " vile and contemp- 
tible. You have never flinched that I know of ; and I shall 
always rejoice to hear of your prosperity." These were the 
last words of Junius. In a year from that time, Philip 
Francis was on his voyage to Bengal. 

57. With the three new Councillors came out the judges of 
the Supreme CouH. The chief justice was Sir Elijah Impey. 
He was an old acquaintance of Hastings ; and it is probable 
that the Governor-General, if he had searched through all 
the inns of court, could not have found an equally service- 
able tool. But the members of Council were by no means 
in an obsequious mood. Hastings greatly disliked the new 
form of government, and had no very high opinion of his 
coadjutors. They had heard of this, and were disposed to 
be suspicious and punctilious. When men are in such a 
frame of mind, any trifle is sufficient to give occasion for 
dispute. The members of Council expected a salute of 
twenty -one guns from the batteries of Fort William. Hast-. 



Macavday 8 Warren Hastings. 55 

ings allowed them only seventeen. They landed in ill- 
humor. The first civilities were exchanged with cold 
reserve. On the morrow commenced that long quarrel 
which, after distracting British India, was renewed in Eng- 
land, and in which all the most eminent statesmen and 
orators of the age took active part on one or the other side. 
58. Hastings was supported by Barwell. They had not 
always been friends. But the arrival of the new members 
of Council from England naturally had the effect of uniting 
the old servants of the Company. Clavering, Monson, and 
Erancis formed the majority. They instantly wrested the 
government out of the hands of Hastings, condemned, cer- 
tainly not without justice, his late dealings with the Nabob 
Vizier, recalled the English agent from Oude, and sent 
thither a creature of their own, ordered the brigade which 
had conquered the unhappy Rohillas to return to the Com- 
pany's territories, and instituted a severe inquiry into the 
conduct of the war. jSText, in spite of the Governor-General's 
remonstrances, they proceeded to exercise, in the most 
indiscreet manner, their new authority over the subordinate 
presidencies; threw all the affairs of Bombay into confusion; 
and interfered, with an incredible union of rashness and 
feebleness, in the intestine disputes of the Mahratta govern- 
ment. At the same time, they fell on the internal adminis- 
tration of Bengal, and attacked the whole fiscal and judicial 
system, a system which was undoubtedly defective, but 
which it was very improbable that gentlemen fresh from 
England would be competent to amend. The effect of 
their reforms was that all protection to life and property 
w^as withdrawn, and that gangs of robbers plundered and 
slaughtered with impunity in the very suburbs of Calcutta. 
Hastings continued to live in the Government-house, and 
to draw the salary of Governor-General. He continued 
even to take the lead at the council-board in the transaction 



5Q Macaulay's Warreyi Hastings. 

of ordinary business; for his opponents could not but feel 
that he knew much of which they were ignorant, and that 
he decided, both surely and speedily, many questions which 
to them would have been hopelessly puzzling. But the 
higher powers of government and the most valuable patron- 
age had been taken from him. 

59. The natives soon found this out. They considered him 
as a fallen man; and they acted after their kind. Some of 
our readers may have seen, in India, a cloud of crows peck- 
ing a sick vulture to death, no bad type of what happens 
in that country, as often as fortune deserts one who has 
been great and dreaded. In an instant, all the sycophants 
who had lately been ready to lie for him, to forge for him, 
to pander for him, to poison for him, hasten to purchase the 
favor of his victorious enemies by accusing him. An Indian 
government has only to let it be understood that it wishes 
a particular man to be ruined ; and, in twenty-four hours, 
it will be furnished with grave charges, supported by 
depositions so full and circumstantial that any person 
unaccustomed to Asiatic mendacity would regard them as 
decisive. It is well if the signature of the destined victim 
is not counterfeited at the foot of some illegal compact, 
and if some treasonable paper is not slipped into a hiding- 
place in his house. Hastings was now regarded as helpless. 
The power to make or mar the fortune of every man in Ben- 
gal had passed, as it seemed, into the hands of the new Coun- 
cillors. Immediately charges against the Governor-General 
began to pour in. They were eagerly welcomed by the 
majority, who, to do them justice, were men of too much 
honor knowingly to countenance false accusations, but 
who were not sufficiently acquainted with the East to be 
aware that, in that part of the world, a very little encour- 
agement from power will call forth, in a week, more 
Oateses, and Bedloes, and Dangerfields, than Westminster 
Hall sees in a century. 



Macaulay^ s Warren Hastings. 57 

60. It would have been strange indeed if, at such a juncture, 
Nuncomar had remained quiet. That bad man was stimu- 
lated at once by malignity, by avarice, and by ambition. 
Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to 
wreak a grudge of seventeen years, to establish himself in 
the favor of the majority of the Council, to become the great- 
est native in Bengal. From the time of the arrival of the 
new Councillors, he had paid the most marked court to them, 
and had in consequence been excluded, with all indignity, 
from the Government-house. He now put into the hands of 
Francis, with great ceremony, a paper containing several 
charges of the most serious description. By this document 
Hastings was accused of putting offices up for sale, and of 
receiving bribes for suffering offenders to escape. In par- 
ticular, it was alleged that Mahommed Reza Khan had been 
dismissed with impunity, in consideration of a great sum 
paid to the Governor-General. 

61. Francis read the paper in Council. A violent altercation 
followed. Hastings complained in bitter terms of the way 
in which he was treated, spoke with contempt of Nuncomar 
and of ISTuncomar's accusation, and denied the right of the 
Council to sit in judgment on the Governor. At the next 
meeting of the Board, another communication from ISTun- 
comar was produced. He requested that he might be 
permitted to attend the Council, and that he might be heard 
in support of his assertions. Another tempestuous debate 
took place. The Governor-General maintained that the 
council-room was not a proper place for such an investiga- 
tion; that from persons who were heated by daily conflict 
with him he could not expect the fairness of judges ; and 
that he could not, without betraying the dignity of his 
post, submit to be confronted with such a man as Nuncomar. 
The majority, however, resolved to go into the charges. 
Hastings rose^ declared the sitting at an end, and left the 



58 Macaiday's Warren Hastings. 

room, followed by Barwell. The other members kept their 
seats, voted themselves a council, put Clavering in the 
chair, and ordered Nuncomar to be called in. Nuncomar not 
only adhered to the original charges, but, after the fashion 
of the East, produced a large supplement. He stated that 
Hastings had received a great sum for appointing Rajah 
Goordas treasurer of the Nabob's household, and for com- 
mitting the care of his Highness's person to the Munny 
Begum. He put in a letter purporting to bear the seal of 
the Munny Begum, for the purpose of establishing the 
truth of his story. The seal, whether forged, as Hastings 
affirmed, or genuine, as we are rather inclined to believe, 
proved nothing. Nuncomar, as everybody knows who 
knows India, had only to tell the Munny Begum that such 
a letter would give pleasure to the majority of the Council, 
in order to procure her attestation. The majority, how- 
ever, voted that the charge was made out ; that Hastings 
had corruptly received between thirty and forty thousand 
pounds ; and that he ought to be compelled to refund. 

62. The general feeling among the English in Bengal was 
strongly in favor of the Governor-General. In talents for 
business^ in knowledge of the country, in general courtesy 
of demeanor, he was decidedly superior to his persecutors. 
The servants of the Company were naturally disposed to 
side with the most distinguished member of their own body 
against a clerk from the war-office, who, profoundly igno- 
rant of the native languages and of the native character, 
took on himself to regulate every department of the admin- 
istration. Hastings, however, in spite of the general sym- 
pathy of his countrymen, was in a most painful situation. 
There was still an appeal to higher authority in England. 
If that authority took part with his enemies, nothing was 
left to him but to throw up his office. He accordingly 
placed his resignation in the hands of his agent in London, 



Macaiday's Warren Hastings. 59 

Colonel Macleane. But Macleane was instructed not to pro- 
duce the resignation, unless it should be fully ascertained 
that the feeling at the India House was adverse to the 
Governor-General. 

63. The triumph of Nuncomar seemed to be complete. He 
held a daily levee, to which his countrymen resorted in 
crowds, and to which, on one occasion, the majority of the 
Council condescended to repair. His house was an office 
for the purpose of receiving charges against the Governor- 
General. It was said that, partly by threats, and partly by 
wheedling, the villainous Brahmin had induced many of the 
wealthiest men of the province to send in complaints. But 
he was playing a perilous game. It was not safe to drive 
to despair a man of such resources and such determination 
as Hastings. Nuncomar, with all his acuteness, did not 
understand the nature of the institutions under which he 
lived. He saw that he had with him the majority of the 
body which made treaties, gave places, raised taxes. The 
separation between political and judicial functions was a 
thing of which he had no conception. It had probably 
never occurred to him that there was in Bengal an author- 
ity perfectly independent of the Council, an authority which 
could protect one whom the Council wished to destroy, and 
send to the gibbet one whom the Council wished to protect. 
Yet such was the fact. The Supreme Court was, within 
the sphere of its own duties, altogether independent of the 
Government. Hastings, with his usual sagacity, had seen 
how much advantage he might derive from possessing him- 
self of this stronghold ; and he had acted accordingly. The 
Judges, especially the Chief Justice, were hostile to the 
majority of the Council. The time had now come for 
putting this formidable machinery into action. 

64. On a sudden, Calcutta was astounded by the news 
that Nuncomar had been taken up on a charge of felony. 



60 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

committed, and thrown into the common gaol. The crime 
imputed to him was that six years before he had forged a 
bond. The ostensible prosecutor was a native. But it was 
then, and still is, the opinion of everybody, idiots and biog- 
raphers excepted, that Hastings was the real mover in the 
business. 

65. The rage of the majority rose to the highest point. 
They protested against the proceedings of the Supreme Court, 
and sent several urgent messages to the Judges, demanding 
that Nuncomar should be admitted to bail. The Judges 
returned haughty and resolute answers. All that the Coun- 
cil could do was to heap honors and emoluments on the 
family of ISTuncomar; and this they did. In the meantime 
the assizes commenced ; a true bill was found ; and ISTun- 
comar was brought before Sir Elijah Impey and a jury 
composed of Englishmen. A great quantity of contradic- 
tory swearing, and the necessity of having every word of 
the evidence interpreted, protracted the trial to a most 
unusual length. At last a verdict of guilty was returned, 
and the Chief Justice pronounced sentence of death on the 
prisoner. 

66. That Impey ought to have respited Nuncomar we hold 
to be perfectly clear. Whether the whole proceeding was 
not illegal, is a question. But it is certain that, whatever 
may have been, according to technical rules of construction, 
the effect of the statute under which the trial took place, 
it was most unjust to hang a Hindoo for forgery. The law 
which made forgery capital in England was passed without 
the smallest reference to the state of society in India. It 
was unknown to the natives of India. It had never been 
put in execution among them, certainly not for want of de- 
linquents. It was in the highest degree shocking to all 
their notions. They were not accustomed to the distinc- 
tion which many circumstances, peculiar to our own state 



Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 61 

of society, have led us to make between forgery and other 
kinds of cheating. The counterfeiting of a seal was, in 
their estimation, a common act of swindling; nor had it 
ever crossed their minds that it was to be punished as 
severely as gang-robbery or assassination. A just judge 
would, beyond all doubt, have reserved the case for the 
consideration of the sovereign. But Impey would not hear 
of mercy or delay. 

67. The excitement among all classes was great. Francis 
and Francis's few English adherents described the Governor- 
General and the Chief Justice as the worst of murderers. 
Clavering, it was said, swore that, even at the foot of the 
gallows, Nuncomar" should be rescued. The bulk of the 
European society, though strongly attached to the Gov- 
ernor-General, could not but feel compassion for a man who, 
with all his crimes, had so long filled so large a space in 
their sight, who had been great and powerful" before the 
British empire in India began to exist, and to whom, in the 
old times, governors and members of council, then mere 
commercial factors, had paid court for protection. The 
feeling of the Hindoos was infinitely stronger. They were, 
indeed, not a people to strike one blow for their country- 
man. But his sentence filled them with sorrow and dis- 
may. Tried even by their low standard of morality, he 
was a bad man. But, bad as he was, he was the head of 
their race and religion, a Brahmin of the Brahmins. He 
had inherited the purest and highest caste. He had prac- 
tised with the greatest punctuality all those ceremonies to 
which the superstitious Bengalees ascribe far more impor- 
tance than to the correct discharge of the social duties. 
They felt, therefore, as a devout Catholic in the dark ages 
would have felt, at seeing a prelate of the highest dignity 
sent to the gallows by a secular tribunal. According to 
their old national laws, a Brahmin could not be put to 



62 Macaulay' s Warren Hastiyigs. 

death, for any crime whatever. And the crime for which 
Kuncomar was about to die was regarded by them in much 
the same light in which the selling of an unsound horse, 
for a sound price, is regarded by a Yorkshire jockey. 

68. The Mussulmans alone appear to have seen with ex- 
ultation the fate of the powerful Hindoo, who had attempted 
to rise by means of the ruin of Mahommed Reza Khan. 
The Mahommedan historian of those times takes delight in 
aggravating the charge. He assures us that in Nnncomar's 
house a casket was found containing counterfeits of the 
seals of all the richest men of the province. We have 
never fallen in with any other authority for this story, 
which in itself is by no means improbable. 

69. The day drew near ; and Nuncomar prepared him- 
self to die with that quiet fortitude with which the Bengalee, 
so effeminately timid in personal conflict, often encounters 
calamities for which there is no remedy. The sheriff, with 
the humanity which is seldom wanting in an English gen- 
tleman, visited the prisoner on the eve of the execution, 
and assured him that no indulgence, consistent with the 
law, should be refused to him. Nuncomar expressed his 
gratitude with great politeness and unaltered composure. 
Not a muscle of his face moved. Not a sigh broke from 
him. He put his finger to his forehead, and calmly said 
that fate would have its way, and that there was no resist- 
ing the pleasure of God. He sent his compliments to Fran- 
cis, Clavering, and Monson, and charged them to protect 
Kajah Go'ordas, who was about to become the head of the 
Brahmins of Bengal. The sheriff withdrew, greatly agi- 
tated by what had passed, and Nuncomar sat composedly 
down to write notes and examine accounts. 

70. The next morning, before the sun was in his power, 
an immense concourse assembled round the place where the 
gallows had been set up. Grief and horror were on every 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 63 

face ; yet to the last the multitude could hardly believe 
that the English really purposed to take the life of the 
great Brahmin. At length the mournful procession came 
through the crowd. Nuncomar sat up in his palanquin, 
and looked round him with unaltered serenity. He had 
just parted from those who were most nearly connected with 
him. Their cries and contortions had appalled the Eu- 
ropean ministers of justice, but had not produced the 
smallest effect on the iron stoicism of the prisoner. The 
only anxiety which he expressed was that men of his own 
priestly caste might be in attendance to take charge of his 
corpse. He again desired to be remembered to his friends 
in the Council, mounted the scaffold with firmness, and 
gave the signal to the executioner. The moment that the 
drop fell, a howl of sorrow and despair rose from the innu- 
merable spectators. Hundreds turned away their faces from 
the polluting sight, fled with loud wailings towards the 
Hoogiey, and plunged into its holy waters, as if to purify 
themselves from the guilt of having looked on such a crime. 
These feelings were not confined to Calcutta. The whole 
province was greatly excited ; and the population of Dacca, 
in particular, gave strong signs of grief and dismay. 

71. Of Impey's conduct it is impossible to speak too 
severely. We have already said that, in our opinion, he 
acted unjustly in refusing to respite Nuncomar. No rational 
man can doubt that he took this course in order to gratify 
the Governor-General. If we had ever had any doubts 
on that point, they would have been dispelled by a letter 
which Mr. Gleig has published. Hastings, three or four 
years later, described Impey as the man " to whose support 
he was at one time indebted for the safety of his fortune, 
honor, and reputation." These strong words can refer only 
to the case of Nuncomar ; and they must mean that Impey 
hanged Nuncomar in order to support Hastings. It is, 



64 Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 

therefore, our deliberate opinion that Impey, sitting as a 
judge, put a man unjustly to death in order to serve a 
political purpose. 

72. But we look on the conduct of Hastings in a some- 
what different light. He was struggling for fortune, honor, 
liberty, all that makes life valuable. He was beset by 
rancorous and unprincipled enemies. From his colleagues 
he could expect no justice. He cannot be blamed for wish- 
ing to crush his accusers. He was indeed bound to use only 
legitimate means for that end. But it was not strange that 
he should have thought any means legitimate which were 
pronounced legitimate by the sages of the law, by men 
whose peculiar duty it was to deal justly between adver- 
saries, and whose education might be supposed to have 
peculiarly qualified them for the discharge of that duty. 
Nobody demands from a party the unbending equity of a 
judge. The reason that judges are appointed is, that even 
a good man cannot be trusted to decide a cause in which he 
is himself concerned. Not a day passes on which an hon- 
est prosecutor does not ask for what none but a dishonest 
tribunal would grant. It is too much to expect that any 
man, when his dearest interests are at stake, and his 
strongest passions excited, will, as against himself, be more 
just than the sworn dispensers of justice. To take an 
analogous case from the history of our own island : suppose 
that Lord Stafford, when in the Tower on suspicion of being 
concerned in the Popish plot, had been apprised that Titus 
Gates had done something which might, by a questionable 
construction, be brought under the head of felony. Should 
we severely blame Lord Stafford, in the supposed case, for' 
causing a prosecution to be instituted, for furnishing funds, 
for using all his influence to intercept the mercy of the 
Crown ? We think not. If a judge, indeed, from favor to 
the Catholic lords, were to strain the law in order to hang 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 65 

Gates, such a judge would richly deserve impeachment. 
But it does not appear to us that the Catholic lord, by 
bringing the case before the judge for decision, would mate- 
rially overstep the limits of a just self-defence. 

73. While, therefore, we have noi the least doubt that 
this memorable execution is to be attributed to Hastings, we 
doubt whether it can with justice be reckoned among his 
crimes. That his conduct was dictated by a profound 
policy is evident. He was in a minority in Council. It 
was possible that he might long be in a minority. He 
knew the native character well. He knew in what abun- 
dance accusations are certain to flow in against the most 
innocent inhabitant of India who is under the frown of 
power. There was not in the whole black population of 
Bengal a place-holder, a place-hunter, a government tenant, 
who did not think that he might better himself by sending 
up a deposition against the Governor-General. Under these 
circumstances, the persecuted statesman resolved to teach 
the whole crew of accusers and witnesses that, though in a 
minority at the council-board, he was still to be feared. 
The lesson which he gave them was indeed a lesson not to 
be forgotten. The head of the combination which had been 
formed against him, the richest, the most powerful, the 
most artful of the Hindoos, distinguished by the favor of 
those who then held the government, fenced round by the 
superstitious reverence of millions, was hanged in broad 
day before many thousands of people. Everything that 
could make the warning impressive, dignity in the sufferer, 
solemnity in the proceeding, was found in this case. The 
helpless rage and vain struggles of the Council made the 
triumph more signal. From that moment the conviction 
of every native was that it was safer to take the part of 
Hastings in a minority than that of Francis in a majority, 
and that he who was so venturous as to join in running 



66 Macaulay's Warren HasUngs. 

down the Governor-General might chance, in the phrase of 
the Eastern poet, to find a tiger, while beating the jnngle 
for a deer. The voices of a thousand informers were 
silenced in an instant. Prom that time, whatever diffi- 
culties Hastings might have to encounter, he was never 
molested by accusations from natives of India. 

74. It is a remarkable circumstance that one of the letters 
of Hastings to Dr. Johnson bears date a very few hours 
after the death of Nuncomar. While the whole settlement 
was in commotion, while a mighty and ancient priesthood 
were weeping over the remains of their chief, the conqueror 
in that deadly grapple sat down, with characteristic self-' 
possession, to write about the Tour to the Hebrides, Jones's 
Persian Grammar, and the history, traditions, arts, and 
natural productions of India. 

. 75. In the meantime, intelligence of the E-ohilla war, and 
of the first disputes between Hastings and his colleagues, 
had reached London. The Directors took part with the 
majority, and sent out a letter filled with severe reflections 
on the conduct of Hastings. They condemned, in strong 
but just terms, the iniquity of undertaking offensive wars 
merely for the sake of peclmiary advantage. But they 
entirely forgot that, if Hastings had by illicit means ob- 
tained pecuniary advantages, he had done so, not for his 
own benefit, but in order to meet their demands. To enjoin 
honesty, and to insist on having what could not be honestly 
got, was then the constant practice of the Company. As 
Lady Macbeth says of her husband, they " would not play 
false, and yet would wrongly win." 

76. The Eegulating Act, by which Hastings had been 
appointed Governor-General for five years, empowered the 
Crown to remove him on an address from the Company. 
Lord North was desirous to procure such an address. The 
three members of Council who had been sent out from Eng- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 67 

land were men of his own choice. General Clavering, in 
particular, was supported by a large parliamentary connec- 
tion, such as no cabinet could be inclined to disoblige. The 
wish of the minister was to displace Hastings, and to put 
Clavering at the head of the government. In the Court of 
Directors parties were very nearly balanced. Eleven voted 
against Hastings ; ten for him. The Court of Proprietors 
was then convened. The great sale-room presented a 
singular appearance. Letters had been sent by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, exhorting all the supporters of 
government who held India stock to be in attendance. 
Lord Sandwich marshalled the friends of the administration 
with his usual dexterity and alertness. Fifty peers and 
privy councillors, seldom seen so far eastward, were counted 
in the crowd. The debate lasted till midnight. The op- 
ponents of Hastings had a small superiority on the 
division; but a ballot was demanded; and the result was 
that the Governor-General triumphed by a majority of 
above a hundred votes over the combined efforts of the 
Directors and the Cabinet. The ministers were greatly 
exasperated by this defeat. Even Lord North lost his 
temper, no ordinary occurrence with him, and threatened to 
convoke Parliament before Christmas, and to bring in a bill 
for depriving the Company of all political power, and for 
restricting it to its old business of trading in silks and 
teas. 

77. Colonel Macleane, who through all this conflict had 
zealously supported the cause of Hastings, now thought 
that his employer was in imminent danger of being turned 
out, branded with parliamentary censure, perhaps prosecuted. 
The opinion of the crown lawyers had already been taken 
respecting some parts of the Governor-General's conduct. 
It seemed to be high time to think of securing an honorable 
retreat. Under these circumstances, Macleane thought 



68 Macaulai/s Warren Hastings. 

himself justified in producing the resignation with which 
he had been entrusted. The instrument wa§ not in very- 
accurate form ; but the Directors were too eager to be 
scrupulous. They accepted the resignation, fixed on Mr. 
Wheler, one of their own body, to succeed Hastings, and 
sent out orders that General Clavering, as senior member 
of Council, should exercise the functions of Governor-Gen- 
eral till Mr. Wheler should arrive. 

78. But, while these things were passing in England, a 
great change had taken place in Bengal. Monson was no 
more. Only four members of the government were left. 
Clavering and Francis were on one side, Barwell and the 
Governor-General on the other ; and the Governor-General 
had the casting vote. Hastings, who had been during two 
years destitute of all power and patronage, became at once 
absolute. He instantly proceeded to retaliate on his adver- 
saries. Their measures were reversed : their creatures were 
displaced. A new valuation of the lands of Bengal, for the 
purposes of taxation, was ordered : and it was provided that 
the whole inquiry should be conducted by the Governor- 
General, and that all the letters relating to it should run 
in his name. He began, at the same time, to revolve vast 
plans of conquest and dominion, plans which he lived to see 
realized, though not by himself. His project was to form 
subsidiary alliances with the native princes, particularly 
with those of Oude and Berar, and thus to make Britain 
the paramount power in India. While he was meditat- 
ing these great designs, arrived the intelligence that he 
had ceased to be Governor-^General, that his resignation had 
been accepted, that Wheler was coming out immediately, 
and that, till Wheler arrived, the chair was to be filled by 
Clavering. 

79. Had Hastings still been in a minority, he would 
probably have retired without a struggle; but he was now 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastiiigs. 69 

the real master of British India, and he was not disposed to 
quit his high place. He asserted that he had never given any 
instructions which could warrant the steps taken at home. 
What his instructions had been, he owned he had forgotten. 
If he had kept a copy of them he had mislaid it. But he 
was certain that he had repeatedly declared to the Directors 
that he would not resign. He could not see how the court, 
possessed of that declaration from himself, could receive 
his resignation from the doubtful hands of an agent. If 
the resignation were invalid, all the proceedings which were 
founded on that resignation were null, and Hastings was 
still Governor-General. 

80. He afterwards" affirmed that, though his agents had 
not acted in conformity with his instructions, he would never- 
theless have held himself bound by their acts, if Clavering 
had not attempted to seize the supreme power by violence. 
Whether this assertion were or were not true, it cannot be 
doubted that the imprudence of Clavering gave Hastings 
an advantage. The General sent for the keys of the fort 
and of the treasury, took possession of the records, and held 
a council at which Francis attended. Hastings took the 
chair in another apartment, and Barwell sat with him. 
Each of the two parties had a plausible show of right. 
There was no authority entitled to their obedience within 
fifteen thousand miles. It seemed that there remained no 
way of settling the dispute except an appeal to arms; and 
from such an appeal Hastings, confident of his influence 
over his countrymen in India, was not inclined to shrink. 
He directed the officers of the garrison at Fort William and 
of all the neighboring stations to obey no orders but his. 
At the same time, with admirable judgment, he offered to 
submit the case to the Supreme Court, and to abide by its 
decision. By making this proposition he risked nothing; 
yet it was a proposition which his opponents could hardly 



r 



70 Macaulay 8 Wccrren Hastings. 

reject. Nobody could be treated as a criminal for obeying 
what the judges should solemnly pronounce to be the 
lawful government. The boldest man would shrink from 
taking arms in defence of what the judges should pronounce 
to be usurpation. Clavering and Francis, after some delay, 
unwillingly consented to abide by the award of the court. 
The court pronounced that the resignation was invalid, and 
that therefore Hastings was still Governor-Greneral under 
the Regulating Act ; and the defeated members of the 
Council, finding that the sense of the whole settlement was 
against them, acquiesced in the decision. 

81. About this time arrived the news that, after a suit> 
which had lasted several years, the Franconian courts had 
decreed a divorce between Imhoff and his wife. The Baron 
left Calcutta, carrying with him the means of buying an 
estate in Saxony. The lady became Mrs. Hastings. The 
event was celebrated by great festivities ; and all the most 
conspicuous persons at Calcutta, without distinction of 
parties, were invited to the Government-house. Clavering, 
as the Mahommedan chronicler tells the story, was sick in 
mind and body, and excused himself from joining the splendid 
assembly. But Hastings, whom, as it should seem, success 
in ambition and in love had put into high good-humor, 
would take no denial. He went himself to the General's 
house, and at length brought his vanquished rival in 
triumph to the gay circle which surrounded the bride. The 
exertion was too much for a frame broken by mortification 
as well as by disease. Clavering died a few days later. 

82. Wheler, who came out expecting to be Governor-Gen- 
eral, and was forced to content himself with a seat at the 
council-board, generally voted with Francis. But the 
Governor-General, with Bar well's help and his own casting 
vote, was still the master. Some change took place at this 
time in the feeling both of the Court of Directors and of 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 71 

the Ministers of the Crown. All designs against Hastings 
were dropped; and, when his original term of five years 
expired, he was quietly reappointed. The truth is, that 
the fearful dangers to which the public interests in every 
quarter were now exposed, made both Lord North and the 
Company unwilling to part with a Governor whose talents, 
experience, and resolution, enmity itself was compelled to 
acknowledge. 

83. The crisis was indeed formidable. The great and 
victorious empire, on the throne of which George the Third 
had taken his seat eighteen years before, with brighter hopes 
than had attended the accession of any of the long line of 
English sovereigns, had, by the most senseless misgovern- 
ment, been brought to the verge of ruin. In America 
millions of Englishmen were at war with the country from 
which their blood, their language, their religion, and their 
institutions were derived, and to which, but a short time 
before, they had been as strongly attached as the inhabit- 
ants of Norfolk and Leicestershire. The great powers 
of Europe, humbled to the dust by the vigor and genius 
which had guided the councils of George the Second, now 
rejoiced in the prospect of a signal revenge. The time was 
approaching when our island, while struggling to keep down 
the United States of America, and pressed with a still 
nearer danger by the too just discontents of Ireland, was to 
be assailed by France, Spain, and Holland, and to be threat- 
ened by the armed neutrality of the Baltic; when even our 
maritime supremacy was to be in jeopardy ; when hostile 
fleets were to command the Straits of Calpe and the 
Mexican Sea ; when the British flag was to be scarcely able 
to protect the British Channel. Great as were the faults 
of Hastings, it was happy for our country that at that con- 
juncture, the most terrible through which she had ever 
passed, he was the ruler of her Indian dominions. 



72 Macaulay' % Warren Hastings. 

84. An attack by sea on Bengal was little to be appre- 
hended. The danger was that the European enemies of 
England might form an alliance with some native power, 
might furnish that power with troops, arms, and ammunition, 
and might thus assail our possessions on the side of the land. 
It was chiefly from the Mahrattas that Hastings anticipated 
danger. The original seat of that singular people was the 
wild range of hills which runs along the western coast of 
India. In the reign of Aurungzebe the inhabitants of those 
regions, led by the great Sevajee, began to descend on the 
possessions of their wealthier and less warlike neighbors. 
The energy, ferocity, and cunning of the Mahrattas soon 
made them the most conspicuous among the new powers 
which were generated by the corruption of the decaying 
monarchy. At first they were only robbers. They soon 
rose to the dignity of conquerors. Half the provinces of the 
empire were turned into Mahratta principalities. Free- 
booters, sprung from low castes, and accustomed to menial 
employments, became mighty Eajahs. The Bonslas, at the 
head of a band of plunderers, occupied the vast region of 
Berar. The Guicowar, which is, being interpreted, the 
Herdsman, founded that dynasty which still reigns in 
Guzerat. The houses of Scindiaand Holkar waxed great in 
Malwa. One adventurous captain made his nest on the im- 
pregnable rock of Gooti. Another became the lord of the 
thousand villages which are scattered among the green rice- 
fields of Tanjore. 

85. That was the time, throughout India, of double gov- 
ernment. The form and the power were everywhere sepa-, 
rated. The Mussulman nabobs who had become sovereign 
princes, the Vizier in Oude, and the Nizam at Hyderabad, 
still called themselves the viceroys of the house of Tamer- 
lane. In the same manner the Mahratta states, though 
really independent of each other, pretended to be members 



Macaulay's Warren Hastmgs. 73 

of one empire. They all acknowledged, by words and cere- 
monies, the supremacy of the heir of Sevajee, a roi faineant 
who chewed bang and toyed with dancing girls in a state 
prison at Sattara, and of his Peshwa or mayor of the pal- 
ace, a great hereditary magistrate, who kept a court with 
kingly state at Poonah, and whose authority was obeyed 
in the spacious provinces of Aurungabad and Bejapoor. 

86. Some months before the war was declared in Europe 
the government of Bengal was alarmed by the news that a 
French adventurer, who passed for a man of quality, had 
arrived at Poonah. It was said that he had been received 
there with great distinction, that he had delivered to the 
Peshwa letters and presents from Lewis the Sixteenth, and 
that a treaty, hostile to England, had been concluded between 
Erance and the Mahrattas. 

87. Hastings immediately resolved to strike the first blow. 
The title of the Peshwa was not undisputed. A portion of 
the Mahratta nation was favorable to a pretender. The 
Governor-Greneral determined to espouse this pretender's 
interest, to move an army across the peninsula of India, 
and to form a close alliance with the chief of the house of 
Bonsla, who ruled Berar, and who, in power and dignity, 
was inferior to none of the Mahratta princes. 

88. The army had marched, and the negotiations with 
Berar were in progress, when a letter from the English consul 
at Cairo brought the news that war had been proclaimed both 
in London and Paris. All the measures which the crisis 
required were adopted by Hastings without a moment's 
delay. The French factories in Bengal were seized. Orders 
were sent to Madra^ that Pondicherry should instantly be 
occupied. Near Calcutta, works were thrown up which 
were thought . to render the approach of a hostile force 
impossible. A maritime establishment was formed for the 
defence of the river. Nine new battalions of sepoys were 



74 Macaulay' s Warren Hastings. 

raised, and a corps of native artillery was formed out of 
the hardy Lascars of the Bay of Bengal. Having made 
these arrangements, the Governor-General with calm con- 
fidence pronounced his presidency secure from all attack, 
unless the Mahrattas should march against it in conjunction 
with the French. 

89. The expedition which Hastings had sent westward 
was not so speedily or completely successful as most of his 
undertakings. The commanding officer procrastinated. The 
authorities at Bombay blundered. But the Governor-Gen- 
eral persevered. A new commander repaired the errors of 
his predecessor. Several brilliant actions spread the mili- 
tary renown of the English through regions where no Euro- 
pean flag had ever been seen. It is probable that, if a new 
and more formidable danger had not compelled Hastings to 
change his whole policy, his plans respecting the Mahratta 
empire would have been carried into complete effect. 

90. The authorities in England had wisely sent out to 
Bengal, as commander of the forces and member of the 
Council, one of the most distinguished soldiers of that time. 
Sir Eyre Coote had, many years before, been conspicuous 
among the founders of the British empire in the East. At 
the council of war which preceded the battle of Plassey, 
he earnestly recommended, in opposition to the majority, 
that daring course which, after some hesitation, was adopted, 
and which was crowned with such splendid success. He 
subsequently commanded in the south of India against the 
brave and unfortunate Lally, gained the decisive battle of 
Wandewash over the French and their native allies, took 
Pondicherry, and made the English power supreme in the 
Carnatic. Since those great exploits near twenty years had 
elapsed. Coote had no longer the bodily activity which he 
had shown in earlier days ; nor was the vigor of his mind 
altogether unimpaired. He was capricious and fretful, and 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 75 

required much coaxing to keep him in good-humor. It 
must, we fear, be added that the love of money had grown 
upon him, and that he thought more about his allowances, 
and less about his duties, than might have been expected 
from so eminent a member of so noble a profession. Still 
he was perhaps the ablest officer that was then to be found 
in the British army. Among the native soldiers his name 
was great and his influence unrivalled. Nor is he yet for- 
gotten by them. Now and then a white-bearded old sepoy 
may still be found, who loves to talk of Porto Novo and 
Pollilore. It is but a short time since one of those aged 
men came to present a memorial to an English officer, who 
holds one of the highest employments in India. A print of 
Coote hung in the room. The veteran recognized at once 
that face and figure which he had not seen for more than 
half a century, and, forgetting his salam to the living, halted, 
drew himself up, lifted his hand, and with solemn reverence 
paid his military obeisance to the dead. 

91. Coote, though he did not, like Bar well, vote constantly 
with the Governor-General, was by no means inclined to 
join in systematic opposition, and on most questions con- 
curred with Hastings, who did his best, by assiduous court- 
ship, and by readily granting the most exorbitant allowances, 
to gratify the strongest passions of the old soldier. 

92. It seemed likely at this time that a general reconcilia- 
tion would put an end to the quarrels which had, during some 
years, weakened and disgraced the government of Bengal. 
The dangers of the empire might well induce men of patri- 
otic feeling, — and of patriotic feeling neither Hastings nor 
Francis was destitute, — to forget private enmities, and to 
co-operate heartily for the general good. Coote had never 
been concerned in faction. Wheler was thoroughly tired of 
it. Barwell had made an ample fortune, and, though he 
had promised that he would- not leave Calcutta while his 



76 Maeaulay' s Warren Hastings. 

help was needed in Council, was most desirous to return to 
England, and exerted himself to promote an arrangement 
which would set him at liberty. 

93. A compact was made, by which Francis agreed to 
desist from opposition, and Hastings engaged that the 
friends of Francis should be admitted to a fair share of 
the honors and emoluments of the service. During a few 
months after this treaty there was apparent harmony at the 
council-board. 

94. Harmony, indeed, was never more necessary ; for at 
this moment internal calamities, more formidable than war 
itself, menaced Bengal. The authors of the Eegulating Act 
of 1773 had established two independent powers, the one 
judicial, the other political ; and, with a carelessness scan- 
dalously common in English legislation, had omitted to 
define the limits of either. The judges took advantage of 
the indistinctness, and attempted to draw to themselves 
supreme authority, not only within Calcutta, but through 
the whole of the great territory subject to the Presidency 
of Fort William. There are few Englishmen who will not 
admit that the English law, in spite of modern improve- 
ments, is neither so cheap nor so speedy as might be wished. 
Still, it is a system which has grown up among us. In 
some points, it has been fashioned to suit our feelings ; in 
others, it has 'gradually fashioned our'feelings to suit itself. 
Even to its worst evils we are accustomed ; and therefore, 
though we may complain of them, they do not strike us 
with the horror and dismay which would be produced by a 
new grievance of smaller severity. In India the case is 
widely different. English law, transplanted to that coun- 
try, has all the vices from which we suffer here ; it has 
them all in a far higher degree; and it has other vices, 
compared with which the worst vices from which we suffer 
are trifles. Dilatory here, it is far more dilatory in a land 



Macaulai/ s Warren Hastings. 77 

where the help of an interpreter is needed by every judge 
and by every advocate. Costly here, it is far more costly 
in a land into which the legal practitioners must be imported 
from an immense distance. All English labor in India, 
from the labor of the Governor-General and the Commander- 
in-Chief, down to that of a groom or a watchmaker, must 
be paid for at a higher rate than at home. No man will be 
banished, and banished to the torrid zone, for nothing. The 
rule holds good with respect to the legal profession. No 
English barrister will work, fifteen thousand miles from all 
his friends, with the thermometer at ninety-six in the shade, 
for the emoluments which will content him in chambers 
that overlook the Thames. Accordingly, the fees at Cal- 
cutta are about three times as great as the fees of Westmin- 
ster Hall ; and this, though the people of India are, beyond 
all comparison, poorer than the people of England. Yet 
the delay and the expense, grievous as they are, form the 
smallest part of the evil which English law, imported with- 
out modifications into India, could not fail to produce. 
The strongest feelings of our nature, honor, religion, female 
modesty, rose up against the innovation. Arrest on mesne 
process was the first step in most civil proceedings ; and to 
a native of rank, arrest was not merely a restraint, but a 
foul personal indignity. Oaths were reqiiired in every 
stage of every suit ; and the feeling of a Quaker about an 
oath is hardly stronger than that of a respectable native. 
That the apartments of a woman of quality should be 
entered by strange men, or that her face should be seen by 
them, are, in the East, intolerable outrages, outrages which 
are more dreaded than death, and which can be expiated 
only by the shedding of blood. To these outrages the most 
distinguished families of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, were 
now exposed. Imagine what the state of our own country 
would be, if a jurisprudence were on a sudden introduced 



78 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

among us, which, should be to us what our jurisprudence 
was to our Asiatic subjects. Imagine what the state of our 
country would be, if it were enacted that any man, by 
merely swearing that a debt was due to him, should acquire 
a right to insult the persons of men of the most honorable 
and sacred callings and of women of the most shrinking 
delicacy, to horsewhip a general officer, to put a bishop in 
the stocks, to treat ladies in the way which called forth the 
blow of Wat Tyler. Something like this was the effect of 
the attempt which the Supreme Court made to extend its 
jurisdiction over the whole of the Company's territory. 

95. A reign of terror began, of terror heightened by 
mystery ; for even that which was endured was less 
horrible than that which was anticipated. No man knew 
what was next to be expected from this strange tribunal. 
It came from beyond the black water, as the people of India, 
with mysterious horror, call the sea. It consisted of judges 
not one of whom was familiar with the usages of the mill- 
ions over whom they claimed boundless authority. Its 
records were kept in unknown characters ; its sentences 
were pronounced in unknown sounds. It had already 
collected round itself an army of the worst part of the 
native population, informers, and false witnesses, and 
common barrators, and agents of chicane, and above all, 
a banditti of bailiffs' followers, compared with whom 
the retainers of the worst English spunging-houses, in 
the worst times, might be considered as upright and tender- 
hearted. • Many natives, highly considered among their 
countrymen, were seized, hurried up to Calcutta, flung into 
the common jail, not for any crime even imputed, not for 
any debt that had been proved, but merely as a precaution 
till their cause should come to trial. There were instances 
in which men of the most venerable dignity, persecuted 
without a cause by extortioners, died of rage and shame in 



Macaulays Warren Hastings. 79 

the gripe of the vile algiiazils of Impey. The harems of 
noble Mahommedans, sanctuaries respected in the East by 
governments which resjjected nothing else, were burst open 
by gangs of bailiffs. The Mussulmans, braver and less 
accustomed to submission than the Hindoos, sometimes 
stood on their defence ; and there were instances in which 
they shed their blood in the doorway, while defending, 
sword in hand, the sacred apartments of their women. 
Naj^, it seemed as if even the faint-hearted Bengalee, who 
had crouched at the feet of Surajah Dowlah, who had been 
mute during the administration of Yansittart, would at 
length find courage in despair. No Mahratta invasion had 
ever spread through the province such dismay as this in- 
road of English lawyers. All the injustice of former op- 
pressors, Asiatic and European, appeared as a blessing 
when compared with the justice of the Supreme Court. 

96. Ever}^ class of the population, English and native, 
with the exception of the ravenous pettifoggers who fat- 
tened on the misery and terror of an immense community, 
cried out loudly against this fearful oppression. But the 
judges were immovable. If a bailiff was resisted, they 
ordered the soldiers to be called out. If a servant of the 
Company, in conformity with the orders of the government, 
withstood the miserable catchpoles who, with Impey's writs 
in their hands, exceeded the insolence and rapacity of gang- 
robbers, he was flung into prison for a contempt. The lapse 
of sixty years, the virtue and wisdom of many eminent 
magistrates who have during that time administered justice 
in the Supreme Court, have not effaced from the minds of 
the people of Bengal the recollection of those evil days. 

97. The members of the government were, on this sub- 
ject, united as one man. Hastings had courted the judges ; 
he had found them useful instruments ; but he was not dis- 
posed to make them his own masters, or the masters of 



80 Macaulay^ s Warren Hastings. 

India. His mind was large ; his knowledge of the native 
character most accurate. He saw that the system pursued 
by the Supreme Court was degrading to the government 
and ruinous to the people; and he resolved to oppose it 
manfully. The consequence was, that the friendship, if 
that be the proper word for such a connection, which had 
existed between him and Impey, was for a time completely 
dissolved. The government placed itself firmly between 
the tyrannical tribunal and the people. The Chief Justice 
proceeded to the wildest excesses. The Governor-General 
and all the members of Council were served with writs, 
calling on them to appear before the King's justices, and to 
answer for their public acts. This was too much. Has- 
tings, with just scorn, refused to obey the call, set at liberty 
the persons wrongfully detained by the Court, and took 
measures for resisting the outrageous proceedings of the 
sheriffs' officers, if necessary, by the sword. But he had 
in view another device which might prevent the necessity 
of an appeal to arms. He was seldom at a loss for an 
expedient ; and he knew Impey well. The expedient, in 
this case, was a very simple one, neither more nor less than 
a bribe. Impey was, by act of Parliament, a judge, inde- 
pendent of the government of Bengal, and entitled to a 
salary of eight thousand a year. Hastings proposed to 
make him also a judge in the Company's service, remov- 
able at the pleasure of the government of Bengal ; and to 
give him, in that capacity, about eight thousand a year 
more. It was understood that, in consideration of this 
new salary, Impey would desist from urging the high pre- 
tensions of his court. If he did urge these pretensions, the 
government could, at a moment's notice, eject him from the 
new place which had been created for him. The bargain was 
struck ; Bengal was saved ; an appeal to force was averted ; 
and the Chief Justice was rich, quiet, and infamous. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 81 

98. Of Impey's conduct it is "unnecessary to speak. It was 
of a piece with almost every part of his conduct that comes 
under the notice of history. No other such judge has dis- 
honored the English ermine, since Jefferies drank himself 
to death in the Tower. But we cannot agree with those 
who have blamed Hastings for this transaction. The case 
stood thus. The negligent manner in which the Regulating 
Act had been framed put it in the power of the Chief Jus- 
tice to throw a great country into the most dreadful con- 
fusion. He was determined to use his power to the utmost, 
unless he was paid to be still ; and Hastings consented to 
pay him. The necessity was to be deplored. It is also to 
be deplored that pirates should be able to exact ransom, by 
threatening to make their captives walk the plank. But to 
ransom a captive from pirates has always been held a hu- 
mane and Christian act ; and it would be absurd to charge 
the payer of the ransom with corrupting the virtue of the 
corsair. This, we seriously think, is a not unfair illustra- 
tion of the relative position of Impey, Hastings, and the 
people of India. Whether it was right in Impey to demand 
or to accept a price for powers which, if they really belonged 
to him, he could not abdicate, which, if they did not belong 
to him, he ought never to have usurped, and which in 
neither case he could honestly sell, is one question. It is 
quite another question, whether Hastings was not right to 
give any sum, however large, to any man, however worth- 
less, rather than either surrender millions of human beings 
to pillage, or rescue them by civil war. 

99. Francis strongly opposed this arrangement. It may, 
indeed, be suspected that personal aversion to Impey was 
as strong a motive with Francis as regard for the welfare 
of the province. To a mind burning with resentment, it 
might seem better to leave Bengal to the oppressors than to 
redeem it by enriching them-. It is not improbable, on the 



82 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

other hand, that Hastings may have been the more willing 
to resort to an expedient agreeable to the Chief Justice, 
because that high functionary had already been so service- 
able, and might, when existing dissensions were composed, 
be serviceable again, 

100. But it was not on this point alone that Francis was 
now opposed to Hastings. The peace between them proved to 
be only a short and hollow truce, during which their mutual 
aversion was constantly becoming stronger. At length an 
explosion took place. Hastings publicly charged Francis 
with having deceived him, and with having induced Barwell 
to quit the service by insincere promises. Then came a 
dispute, such as frequently arises even between honorable 
men when they may make important agreements by mere 
verbal communication. An impartial historian will prob- 
ably be of opinion that they had misunderstood each other ; 
but their minds were so much embittered that they imputed 
to each other nothing less than deliberate villainy. " I do 
not," said Hastings, in a minute recorded on the Consulta- 
tions of the Government, " I do not trust to Mr. Francis's 
promises of candor, convinced tha.t he is incapable of it. 
I judge of his public conduct by his private, which I have 
found to be void of- truth and honor." After the Council 
had risen, Francis put a challenge into the Governor-Gen- 
eral's hand. It was instantly accepted. They met, and 
fired. Francis was shot through the body. He was car- 
ried to a neighboring house, where it appeared that the 
wound, though severe, was not mortal. Hastings inquired 
repeatedly after his enemy's health, and proposed to call 
on him; but Francis coldly declined the visit. He had a 
proper sense, he said, of the Governor-General's politeness, 
but could not consent to any private interview. They 
could meet only at the council-board. 

101. In a very short time it was made signally manifest to 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 83 

how great a danger the Governor-General had, on this 
occasion, exposed his country. A crisis arrived with which 
he, and he alone, was competent to deal. It is not too 
much to say that, if he had been taken from the head of 
affairs, the years 1780 and 1781 would have been as fatal to 
our power in Asia as to our power in America. 

102. The Mahrattas had been the chief objects of appre- 
hension to Hastings. The measures which he had adopted 
for the purpose of breaking their power, had at first been 
frustrated by the errors of those whom he was compelled to 
employ ; but his perseverance and ability seemed likely to be 
crowned with success, when a far more formidable danger 
showed itself in a distant quarter. 

103. About thirty years before this time, a Mahommedan 
soldier had begun to distinguish himself in the wars of 
Southern India. His education had been neglected; his 
extraction was humble. His father had been a petty officer 
of revenue ; his grandfather a wandering dervise. But 
though thus meanl}^ descended, though ignorant even of 
the alphabet, the adventurer had no sooner been placed at 
the head of a body of troops than he approved himself a 
man born for conquest and command. Among the crowd 
of chiefs who were struggling for a share of India, none 
could compare with him in the qualities of the captain and 
the statesman. He became a general ; he became a sover- 
eign. Out of the fragments of old principalities, which 
had gone to pieces in the general wreck, he formed for him- 
self a great, compact, and vigorous empire. That empire 
he ruled with the ability, severity, and vigilance of Lewis 
the Eleventh. Licentious in his pleasures, implacable in 
his revenge, he had yet enlargement of mind enough to 
perceive how much the prosperity of subjects adds to the 
strength of governments. He was an oppressor; but he 
had at least the merit of protecting his people against all 



84 Macaulay's Warren Hastings, 

oppression except his own. He was now in extreme old 
age; but his intellect was as clear, and his spirit as high, 
as in the prime of manhood. Such was the great Hyder 
Ali, the founder of the Mahommedan kingdom of Mysore, 
and the most formidable enemy with whom the English 
conquerors of India have ever had to contend. 

104. Had Hastings been governor of Madras, Hyder would 
have been either made a friend, or vigorously encountered 
as an enemy. Unhappily the English authorities in the 
south provoked their powerful neighbor's hostility, with- 
out being prepared to repel it. On a sudden, an army of 
ninety thousand men, far superior in discipline and effi- 
ciency to any other native force that could be found in 
India, came pouring through those wild passes which, worn 
by mountain torrents, and dark with jungle, lead down 
from the table-land of Mysore to the plains of the Carnatic. 
This great army was accompanied by a hundred pieces of 
cannon; and its movements were guided by many French 
officers, trained in the best military schools of Europe. 

105. Hyder was everywhere triumphant. The sepoys in 
many British garrisons flung down their arms. Some forts 
were surrendered by treachery and some ,by despair. In a 
few days the whole open country north of the Coleroon had 
submitted. The English inhabitants of Madras could al- 
ready see by night, from the top of Mount St. Thomas, the 
western sky reddened by a vast semicircle of blazing vil- 
lages. The white villas, to which our countrymen retire 
after the' daily labors of government and of trade, when 
the cool evening breeze springs up from the bay, were now 
left without inhabitants ; for bands of the fierce horsemen 
of Mysore had already been seen prowling among the tulip- 
trees, and near the gay verandas. Even the town was not 
thought secure, and the British merchants and public func- 
tionaries made haste to crowd themselves behind the cannon 
of Fort St. George. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 85 

106. There were the means, indeed, of assembling an 
army which might have defended the presidency, and even 
driven the invader back to his mountains. Sir Hector 
Munro was at the head of one considerable force ; Baillie 
was advancing with another. United, they might have 
presented a formidable front even to such an enemy as Hy- 
der. But the English commanders, neglecting those funda- 
mental rules of the military art of which the propriety is 
obvious even to men who have never received a military 
education, deferred their junction, and were separately at- 
tacked. Baillie' s detachment was destroyed. Munro was 
forced to abandon his baggage, to fling his guns into the 
tanks, and to save himself by a retreat which might be 
called a flight. In three weeks from the commencement of 
the war, the British empire in Southern India had been 
brought to the verge of ruin. Only a few fortified places 
remained to us. The glory of our arms had departed. It 
was known that a great French expedition might soon be 
expected on the coast of Coromandel. England, beset by 
enemies on every side, was in no condition to protect such 
remote dependencies. 

107. Then it was that the fertile genius and serene cour- 
age of Hastings achieved their most signal triumph. A 
swift ship, flying before the southwest monsoon, brought 
the evil tidings in few days to Calcutta. In twenty-four 
hours the Governor-General had framed a complete plan of 
policy adapted to the altered state of affairs. The struggle 
with Hyder was a struggle for life and death. All minor 
objects must be sacrificed to the preservation of the Car- 
natic. The disputes with the Mahrattas must be accommo- 
dated. A large military force and a supply of money must 
be instantly sent to Madras. But even these measures 
would be insuflacient, unless the war, hitherto so grossly 
mismanaged, were placed under the direction of a vigorous 



86 Macaulay's Warren Hastings, 

mind. It was no time for trifling. Hastings determined to 
resort to an extreme exercise of power, to suspend the in- 
capable governor of Fort St. George, to send Sir Eyre Coote 
to oppose Hyder, and to intrust that distinguished general 
with the whole administration of the war. 

108. In spite of the sullen opposition of Francis, who 
had now recovered from his wound, and had returned to the 
Council, the Governor-General's wise and firm policy was 
approved by the majority of the board. The reinforce- 
ments were sent off with great expedition, and reached 
Madras before the French armament arrived in the Indian 
seas. Coote, broken by age and disease, was no longer the 
Coote of Wandewash ; but he was still a resolute and skil- 
ful commander. The progress of Hyder was arrested ; and in 
a few months the great victory of Porto Novo retrieved the 
honor of the English arms. 

109. In the meantime Francis had returned to England, 
and Hastings was now left perfectly unfettered. Wheler had 
gradually been relaxing in his opposition, and, after the 
departure of his vehement and implacable colleague, co-oper- 
ated heartily with the Governor-General, whose influence 
over the British in India, always great, had, by the vigor and 
success of his recent measures, been considerably increased. 

110. But, though the difficulties arising from factions 
within the Council were at an end, another class of difficul- 
ties had become more pressing than ever. The financial 
embarrassment was extreme. Hastings had to find the 
means, not only of carrying on the government of Bengal, but 
of maintaining a most costly war against both Indian and , 
European enemies in the Carnatic, and of making remit- 
tances to England. A few years before this time he had 
obtained relief by plundering the Mogul and enslaving the 
Kohillas ; nor were the resources of his fruitful mind by 
any means exhausted. 



Macaulay^ s Warren Hastings. 87 

111. His first design was on Benares, a city which in 
wealth, population, dignity, and sanctity, was among the 
foremost of Asia. It was commonly believed that half a 
million of human beings was crowded into that labyrinth 
of lofty alleys, rich with shrines, and minarets, and balco- 
nies, and carved oriels, to which the sacred apes clung by 
hundreds. The traveller could scarcely make his way 
through the press of holy mendicants and not less holy bulls. 
The broad and stately flights of steps which descended from 
these swarming haunts to the bathing-places along the 
Ganges were worn every day by the footsteps of an innu- 
merable multitude of worshippers. The schools and tem- 
ples drew crowds of pious Hindoos from every province 
where the Brahminical faith was known. Hundreds of 
devotees came thither every month to die : for it was 
believed that a peculiarly happy fate awaited the man who 
should pass from the sacred city into the sacred river. Nor 
was superstition the only motive which allured strangers to 
that great metropolis. Commerce had as many pilgrims as 
religion. All along the shores of the venerable stream lay 
great fleets of vessels laden with rich merchandise. From 
the looms of Benares went forth the most delicate silks that 
adorned the balls of St. James's and of Versailles ; and in 
the bazars, the muslins of Bengal and the sabres of Oude 
were mingled with the jewels of Golconda and the shawls 
of Cashmere. This rich capital, and the surrounding tract, 
had long been under the immediate rule of a Hindoo prince, 
who rendered homage to the Mogul emperors. During the 
great anarchy of India, the lords of Benares became in- 
dependent of the court of Delhi, but were compelled to 
submit to the authority of the Nabob of Oude. Oppressed 
by this formidable neighbor, they invoked the protec- 
tion of the English. The English protection was given ; 
and at length the Nabob Vizier, by a solemn treaty, ceded 



88 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

all his rights over Benares to the Company. From that 
time the Rajah was the vassal of the government of Bengal, 
acknowledged its supremacy, and engaged to send an an- 
nual tribute to Fort William. This tribute Cheyte Sing, the 
reigning prince, had paid with strict punctuality. 

112. About the precise nature of the legal relation be- 
tween the Company and the Eajah of Benares, there has 
been much warm and acute controversy. On the one side, 
it has been maintained that Cheyte Sing was merely a great 
subject -on whom the superior power had a right to call for 
aid in the necessities of the empire. On the other side, 
it has been contended that he was an independent 
prince, that the only claim which the Company had upon 
him was for a fixed tribute, and that, while the fixed 
tribute was regularly paid, as it assuredly was, the Eng- 
lish had no more right to exact any further contribution 
from him than to demand subsidies from Holland or 
Denmark. Nothing is easier than to find precedents 
and analogies in favor of either view. 

113. Our own impression is that neither view is cor- 
rect. It was too much the habit of English politicians 
to take it for granted that there was in India a known 
and definite constitution by which questions of this kind 
were to be decided. The truth is that, during the inter- 
val which elapsed between the fall of the house of 
Tamerlane and the establishment of the British ascen- 
dency, there was no such constitution. The old order 
of things had passed away ; the new order of things was 
not yet formed. All was transition, confusion, obscurity. ■ 
Everybody kept his head as he best might, and scrambled 
for whatever he could get. There have been similar sea- 
sons in Europe. The time of the dissolution of the Car- 
lovingian empire is an instance. Who would think of 
seriously discussing the question, what extent of pecuni- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 89 

ary aid and of obedience Hugh Capet had a constitutional 
right to demand from the Duke of Britanny or the Duke of 
Normandy? The words "constitutional right" had, in 
that state of society, no meaning. If Hugh Capet laid 
hands on all the possessions of the Duke of Normandy, 
this might be unjust and immoral ; but it would not be ille- 
gal, in the sense in which the ordinances of Charles the 
Tenth were illegal. If, on the other hand, the Duke of 
Normandy made war on Hugh Capet, this might be unjust 
and immoral ; but it would not be illegal, in the sense in 
which the expedition of Prince Louis Bonaparte was illegal. 
114. Very similar to this was the state of India sixty 
years ago. Of the existing governments not a single one 
could lay claim to legitimacy, or could plead any other title 
than recent occupation. There was scarcely a province in 
which the real sovereignty and the nominal sovereignty were 
not disjoined. Titles and forms were still retained which 
implied that the heir of Tamerlane was an absolute ruler, 
and that the Nabobs of the provinces were his lieutenants. 
In reality, he was a captive. The Nabobs were in some 
places independent princes. In other places, as in Bengal 
and the Carnatic, they had, like their master, become mere 
phantoms, and the Company was supreme. Among the 
Mahrattas, again, the heir of Sevajee still kept the title of 
Kajah ; but he was a prisoner, and his prime minister, the 
Peshwa, had become the hereditary chief of the state. The 
Peshwa, in his turn, was fast sinking into the same degraded 
situation to which he had reduced the Eajah. It was, 
we believe, impossible to find, from the Himalayas to 
Mysore, a single government which was at once a govern- 
ment de facto and a government de jure, which possessed 
the physical means of making itself feared by its neighbors 
and subjects, and which had at the same time the authority 
derived from law and long prescription. 



90 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

115. Hastings clearly discerned, what was hidden from 
most of his contemporaries, that such a state of things gave 
immense advantages to a ruler of great talents and few 
scruples. In every international question that could arise, 
he had his option between the de facto ground and the de 
jure ground ; and the probability was that one of those 
grounds would sustain any claim that it might be conven- 
ient for him to make, and enable him to resist any claim 
made by others. In every controversy, accordingly, he 
resorted to the plea which suited his immediate purpose, 
without troubling himself in the least about consistency ; 
and thus he scarcely ever failed to find what, to persons of 
short memories and scanty information, seemed to be a jus- 
tification for what he wanted to do. Sometimes the Nabob 
of Bengal is a shadow, sometimes a monarch. Sometimes 
the Vizier is a mere deputy, sometimes an independent po- 
tentate. If it is expedient for the Company to show some 
legal title to the revenues of Bengal, the grant under the 
seal of the Mogul is brought forward as an instrument of 
the highest authority. When the Mogul asks for the rents 
which were reserved to him by that very grant, he is told 
that he is a mere pageant, that the English power rests on a 
very different foundation from a charter given by him, that 
he is welcome to play at royalty as long as he likes, but that 
he must expect no tribute from the real masters of India. 

116. It is true that it was in the power of others, as 
well as of Hastings, to practise this legerdemain ; but in the 
controversies of governments, sophistry is of little use unless 
it be backed by power. There is a principle which Has- , 
tings was fond of asserting in the strongest terms, and on 
which he acted with undeviating steadiness. It is a prin- 
ciple which, we must own, though it may be grossly 
abused, can hardly be disputed in the present state of 
public law. It is this, that where an arnbiguous question 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 91 

arises between two governments, there is, if they cannot 
agree, no appeal except to force, and that the opinion of 
the stronger must prevail. Almost every question was 
ambiguous in India. The English government was the 
strongest in India. The consequences are obvious. The 
English government might do exactly what it chose. 

117. The English government now chose to wring money 
out of Cheyte Sing. It had formerly been convenient to 
treat him as a sovereign prince ; it was now convenient to 
treat him as a subject. Dexterity inferior to that of Plas- 
tings could easily find, in the general chaos of laws and 
customs, arguments for either course. Hastings wanted a 
great supply. It was known that Cheyte Sing had a large 
revenue, and it was suspected that he had accumulated a 
treasure. Nor was he a favorite at Calcutta. He had, 
when the Governor-General was in great difficulties, courted 
the favor of Francis and Clavering. Hastings who, less 
perhaps from evil passions than from policy, seldom left 
an injury unpunished, was not sorry that the fate of Cheyte 
Sing should teach neighboring princes the same lesson 
which the fate of Nuncomar had already impressed on the 
inhabitants of Bengal. 

118. In 1778, on the first breaking out of the war with 
France, Cheyte Sing was called upon to pay, in addition to 
his fixed tribute, an extraordinary contribution of fifty thou- 
sand pounds. In 1779, an equal sum was exacted. In 
1780, the demand was renewed. Cheyte Sing, in the hope 
of obtaining some indulgence, secretly offered the Governor- 
General a bribe of twenty thousand pounds. Hastings 
took the money, and his enemies have maintained that he 
took it intending to keep it. He certainly concealed the 
transaction, for a time, both from the Council in Bengal 
and from the Directors at home ; nor did he ever give any 
satisfactory reason for the concealment. Public spirit, or 



92 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

the fear of detection, at last determined him to withstand 
the temptation. He paid over the bribe to the Company's 
treasury, and insisted that the Rajah should instantly com- 
ply with the demands of the English government. The 
Rajah, after the fashion of his countrymen, shuffled, solic- 
ited, and pleaded poverty. The grasp of Hastings was not 
to be so eluded. He added to the requisition another ten 
thousand pounds as a fine for delay, and sent troops to exact 
the money. 

119. The money was paid. But this was not enough. The 
late events in the south of India had increased the financial 
embarrassments of the Company. Hastings was determined 
to plunder Cheyte Sing, and, for that end, to fasten a 
quarrel on him. Accordingly, the Rajah was now required 
to keep a body of cavalry for the service of the British 
government. He objected and evaded. This was exactly 
what the Governor-General wanted. He had now a pre- 
text for treating the wealthiest of his vassals as a criminal. 
"I resolved," — these are the words of Hastings himself, 
— " to draw from his guilt the means of relief of the Com- 
pany's distresses, to make him pay largely for his pardon, 
or to exact a severe vengeance for past delinquency." 
The plan was simply this, to demand larger and larger 
contributions till the Rajah should be driven to remon- 
strate, then to call his remonstrance a crime, and to punish 
him by confiscating all his possessions. 

120. Cheyte Sing was in the greatest dismay. He offered 
two hundred thousand pounds to propitiate the British gov- 
ernment. But Hastings replied that nothing less than half 
a million would be accepted. Nay, he began to think of 
selling Benares to Oude, as he had formerly sold Allahabad 
and Rohilcund. The matter was one which could not be 
well managed at a distance ; and Hastings resolved to visit 
Benares. 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 93 

121. Cheyte Sing received his liege lord with every mark 
of reverence, came near sixty miles, with his guards, to meet 
and escort the illustrious visitor, and expressed his deep 
concern at the displeasure of the English. He even took 
off his turban, and laid it in the lap of Hastings, a gesture 
which in India marks the most profound submission and 
devotion. Hastings behaved with cold and repulsive 
severity. Having arrived at Benares, he sent to the Eajah 
a paper containing the demands of the government of Ben- 
gal. The Bajah, in reply, attempted to clear himself from 
the accusations brought against him. Hastings, who wanted 
money and not excuses, was not to be put off by the ordi- 
nary artifices of Eastern negotiation. He instantly ordered 
the Bajah to be arrested and placed under the custody of 
two companies of sepoys. 

122. In taking these strong measures, Hastings scarcely 
showed his usual judgment. It is possible that," having had 
little opportunity of personally observing any part of the 
population of India, except the Bengalees, he was not fully 
aware of the difference between their character and that of 
the tribes which inhabit the upper provinces. He was now 
in a land far more favorable to the vigor of the human 
frame than the Delta of the Ganges ; in a land fruitful of 
soldiers, who have been found worthy to follow English 
battalions to the charge and into the breach. The Eajah 
was popular among his subjects. His administration had 
been mild; and the prosperity of the district which he 
governed presented a striking contrast to the depressed 
state of Bahar under our rule, and a still more striking 
contrast to the misery of the provinces which were cursed 
by the tyranny of the Nabob Vizier. The national and 
religious prejudices with which the English were regarded 
throughout India were peculiarly intense in the metropolis 
of the Brahminical superstition. It can therefore scarcely 



94 Macaulay% Warren Hastings. 

be doubted that the Governor-General, before he outraged 
the dignity of Cheyte Sing by an arrest, ought to have 
assembled a force capable of bearing down all opposition. 
This had not been done. The handful of sepoys who 
attended Hastings would probably have been sufficient to 
overawe Moorshedabad, or the Black Town of Calcutta. 
But they were unequal to a conflict with the hardy rabble 
of Benares. The streets surrounding the palace were filled 
by an immense multitude, of whom a large proportion, as 
is usual in Upper India, wore arms. The tumult became 
a fight and the fight a massacre. The English officers 
defended themselves with desperate courage against over- 
whelming numbers, and fell, as became them, sword in 
hand. The sepoys were butchered. The gates were forced. 
The captive prince, neglected by his jailers during the 
confusion, discovered an outlet which opened on the pre- 
cipitous bank of the Ganges, let himself down to the 
water by a string made of the turbans of his attendants, 
found a boat, and escaped to the opposite shore. 

123. If Hastings had, by indiscreet violence, brought him- 
self into a difficult and perilous situation, it is only just to 
acknowledge that he extricated himself with even more 
than his usual ability and presence of mind. He had only 
fifty men with him. * The building in which he had taken 
up his residence was on every side blockaded by the 
insurgents. But his fortitude remained unshaken. The 
Rajah from the other side of the river sent apologies and 
liberal offers. They were not even answered. Some subtle 
and enterprising men were found who undertook to pass 
through the throng of enemies, and to convey the intelli- 
gence of the late events to the English cantonments. It is 
the fashion of the natives of India to wear large earrings 
of gold. When they travel, the rings are laid aside, lest 
the precious metal shoidd tempt some gang of robbers ; 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 95 

and, in place of the ring, a quill or a roll of paper is 
inserted in the orifice to prevent it from closing. Has- 
tings placed in the ears of his messengers letters rolled up 
in the smallest compass. Some of these letters were ad- 
dressed to the commanders of the English troops. One was 
written to assure his wife of his safety. One was to the 
envoy whom he had sent to negotiate with the Mahrattas. 
Instructions for the negotiation were needed ; and the 
Governor-General framed them in that situation of extreme 
danger, with as much composure as if he had been writing 
in his palace at Calcutta. 

124. Things, however, were not yet at the worst. An 
English officer of more spirit than judgment, eager to dis- 
tinguish himself, made a premature attack on the insurgents 
beyond the river. His troops were entangled in narrow 
streets and assailed by a furious population. He fell, with 
many of his men ; and the survivors were forced to retire. 

125. This event produced the effect which has never failed 
to follow every check, however slight, sustained in India by 
the English arms. For hundreds of miles round, the whole 
country was in commotion. The entire population of the 
district of Benares took arms. The fields were abandoned 
by the husbandmen, who thronged to defend their prince. 
The infection spread to Oude. The oppressed people of 
that province rose up against the Nabob Vizier, refused to 
pay their imposts, and put the revenue officers to flight. 
Even Bahar was ripe for revolt. The hopes of Cheyte Sing 
began to rise. Instead of imploring mercy in the humble 
style of a vassal, he began to talk the language of a con- 
queror, and threatened, it was said, to sweep the white 
usurpers out of the land. But the English troops were now 
assembling fast. The officers, and even the private men, 
regarded the Governor-General with enthusiastic attach- 
ment, and flew to his aid with an alacrity which, as he 



96 Macaulay % Warren Hastings, 

boasted, had never been shown on any other occasion. 
Major Popham, a brave and skilful soldier, who had highly 
distinguished himself in the Mahratta war, and in whom 
the Governor-General reposed the greatest confidence, took 
the command. The tumultuary army of the Eajah was put 
to rout. His fastnesses were stormed. In a few hours, 
above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned 
to their ordinary avocations. The unhappy prince fled from 
his country forever. His fair domain was added to the 
British dominions. One of his relations indeed was ap- 
pointed rajah ; but the Rajah of Benares was henceforth to 
be, like the Nabob of Bengal, a mere pensioner. 

126. By this revolution, an addition of two hundred thou- 
sand pounds a year was made to the revenues of the Com- 
pany. But the immediate relief was not so great as had been 
expected. The treasure laid up by Cheyte Sing had been 
popularly estimated at a million sterling. J.t turned out to 
be about a fourth part of that sum ; and, such as it was, it 
was seized by the army, and divided as prize-money, 

127. Disappointed in his expectations from Benares, 
Hastings was more violent than he would otherwise have 
been, in his dealings with Oude. Sujah Dowlah had long 
been dead. His son and successor, Asaph-ul-Dowlah, was 
one of the weakest and most vicious even of Eastern princes. 
His life w^as divided between torpid repose and the most 
odious forms of sensuality. In his court there Avas bound- 
less waste, throughout his dominions wretchedness and dis- 
order. He had been, under the skilful management of the 
English government, gradually sinking from the rank of an 
independent prince to that of a vassal of the Company. If 
w^as only by the help of a British brigade that he could be 
secure from the aggressions of neighbors who despised his 
weakness, and from the vengeance of subjects who detested 
his tyranny. A brigade was furnished ; and he engaged to 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 97 

defray tlie charge of paying and maintaining it. From 
that time his independence was at an end. Hastings was 
not a man to lose the advantage which he had thus gained. 
The Nabob soon began to complain of the burden which he 
had undertaken to bear. His revenues, he said, were fall- 
ing off ; his servants were unpaid ; he could no longer sup- 
port the expense of the arrangement which he had sanc- 
tioned. Hastings would not listen to these representations. 
The Vizier, he said, had invited the government of Bengal 
to send him troops and had promised to pay for them. The 
troops had been sent. How long the troops were to remain 
in Oude was a matter, not settled by the treaty. It remained, 
therefore, to be settled between the contractiug parties. But 
the contracting parties differed. Who then must decide ? 
The stronger. 

128. Hastings also argued that, if the English, force was 
withdrawn, Oude would certainly become a prey to anarchy, 
and would probably be overrun by a Mahratta army. That 
the finances of Oude were embarrassed he admitted. But 
he contended, not without reason, that the embarrassment 
was to be attributed to the incapacity and vices of Asaph- 
ul-Dowlah himself, and that, if less were spent on the troops, 
the only effect would be that more would be squandered on 
worthless favorites. 

129. Hastings had intended, after settling the affairs of 
Benares, to visit Lucknow, and there to confer with Asaph- 
ul-Dowlah. But the obsequious courtesy of the Nabob 
Vizier prevented this visit. With a small train he hastened 
to meet the Governor-General. An interview took place in 
the fortress which, from the crest of the precipitous rock of 
Chunar, looks down on the waters of the Ganges. 

130. At first sight it might appear impossible that the 
negotiation should come to an amicable close. Hastings 
wanted an extraordinary supply of money. Asaph-ul- 



98 Macaulay's Warren Hastings, 

Dowlah. wanted to obtain a remission of what he already 
owed. Such a difference seemed to admit of no compromise. 
There was, however, one course satisfactory to both sides, 
one course by which it was possible to relieve the finances 
both of Oude and of Bengal ; and that course was adopted. 
It was simply this, that the Governor-General and the Nabob 
Vizier should join to rob a third party ; and the third party 
whom they determined to rob was the parent of one of the 
robbers. 

131. The mother of the late Nabob, and his wife, who 
was the mother of the present Nabob, were known as the 
Begums or Princesses of Oude. They had possessed great 
influence over Sujah Dowlah, and had, at his death, been 
left in possession of a splendid dotation. The domains of 
which they received the rents and administered the govern- 
ment were of wide extent. The treasure hoarded by the 
late Nabob, a treasure which was popularly estimated at 
near three millions sterling, was in their hands. Tliey con- 
tinued to occupy his favorite palace at Fyzabad, the Beauti- 
ful Dwelling ; while Asaph-ul-Dowlah held his court in the 
stately Lucknow, which he had built for himself on the 
shores of the Goomti, and had adorned with noble mosques 
and colleges. 

132. Asaph-ul-Dowlah had already extorted considerable 
sums from his mother. She had at length appealed to the 
English ; and the English had interfered. A solemn com- 
pact had been made, by which she consented to give her 
son some pecuniary assistance, and he in his turn promised 
never to commit any further invasion of her rights. This , 
compact was formally guaranteed by the government of 
Bengal. But times had changed ; money was wanted ; and 
the power which had given the guarantee was not ashamed 
to instigate the spoiler to excesses such that even he shrank 
from them. 



Macaulay% Warren Hastiiigs. 99 

133. It was necessary to find some pretext for a confisca- 
tion inconsistent, not merely with plighted faith, not merely 
with the ordinary rules of humanity and justice, but also 
with that great law of filial piety which, even in the wildest 
tribes of savages, even in those more degraded communities 
which wither under the influence of a corrupt half -civiliza- 
tion, retains a certain authority over the human mind. A 
pretext was the last thing that Hastings was likely to want. 
The insurrection at Benares had produced disturbances in 
Oude. These disturbances it was convenient to impute to 
the Princesses. Evidence for the imputation there was 
scarcely any ; unless reports wandering from one mouth to 
another, gaining something by every transmission, may be 
called evidence. The accused were furnished with no 
charge ; they were permitted to make no defence ; for the 
Governor-General wisely considered that, if he tried them, 
he might not be able to find a ground for plundering them. 
It was agreed between him and the Nabob Vizier that the 
noble ladies should, by a sweeping act of confiscation, be 
stripped of their domains and treasures for the benefit of 
the Company, and ^that the sums thus obtained should be 
accepted by the government of Bengal in satisfaction of its 
claims on the government of Oude. 

134. While Asaph-ul-Dowlah was at Chunar, he was com- 
pletely subjugated by the clear and commanding intellect 
of the English statesman. But, when they had separated, 
the Vizier began to reflect with uneasiness on the engage- 
ments into which he had entered. His mother and grand- 
mother protested and implored. His heart, deeply corrupted 
by absolute power and licentious pleasures, yet not naturally 
unfeeling, failed him in this crisis. Even the English 
resident at Lucknow, though hitherto devoted to Hastings, 
shrank from extreme measures. But the Governor-General 
was inexorable. He wrote to the resident in terms of the 



100 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

greatest severity, and declared that, if tlie spoliation which 
had been agreed upon were not instantly carried into effect, 
he would himself go to Lucknow, and do that from which 
feebler minds recoil with dismay. The resident, thus 
menaced, waited on his Highness, and insisted that the 
treaty of Chunar should be carried into full and immediate 
effect. Asaph-ul-Dowlah yielded, making at the same time 
a solemn protestation that he yielded to compulsion. The 
lands were resumed; but the treasure was not so easily 
obtained. It was necessary to use violence. A body of 
the Company's troops marched to Fyzabad, and forced the 
gates of the palace. The Princesses were confined to their 
own apartments. But still they refused to submit. Some 
more stringent mode of coercion was to be found. A mode 
was found of which, even at this distance of time, we can- 
not speak without shame and sorrow. 

135. There were at Fyzabad two ancient men, belonging 
to that unhappy class which a practice, of immemorial antiq- 
uity in the East, has excluded from the pleasures of love 
and from the hope of posterity. It has always been held 
in Asiatic courts that beings thus estranged from sympathy 
with their kind are those whom princes may most safely 
trust. Sujah Dowlah had been of this opinion. He had 
given his entire confidence to the two eunuchs ; and after 
his death they remained at the head of the household of 
his widow. 

136. These men were, by the orders of the British govern- 
ment, seized, imprisoned, ironed, starved almost to death, 
in order to extort money from the Princesses. After they 
had been two months in confinement, their health gave 
way. They implored permission to take a little exercise 
in the garden of their prison. The officer who was in 
charge of them stated that, if they were allowed this indul- 
gence, there was not the smallest chance of their escaping, 



Macaulay % Warren Hastings. 101 

and that their irons really added nothing to the security of 
the custody in which they were kept. He did not under- 
stand the plan of his superiors. Their object in these 
inflictions was not security, but torture ; and all mitigation 
was refused. Yet this was not the worst. It was resolved 
by an English government that these two infirm old men 
should be delivered to the tormentors. For that purpose 
they were removed to Lucknow. What horrors their 
dungeon there witnessed can only be guessed. But there 
remains on the records of Parliament, this letter, written 
by a British resident to a British soldier. 

137. " Sir, the Nabob having determined to inflict corporal 
punishment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is 
to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may have 
free access to the prisoners, and be permitted to do with 
them as they shall see proper.'^ 

138. While these barbarities were perpetrated at Luck- 
now, the Princesses were still under duress at Fyzabad. 
Pood was allowed to enter their apartments only in such 
scanty quantities that their female attendants were in danger 
of perishing with hunger. Month after month this cruelty 
continued, till at length, after twelve hundred thousand 
pounds had been wrung out of the Princesses, Hastings 
began to think that he had really got to the bottom of their 
coffers, and that no rigor could extort more. Then at 
length the wretched men who were detained at Lucknow 
regained their liberty. When their irons were knocked off, 
and the doors of their prison opened, their quivering lips, 
the tears which ran down their cheeks, and the thanks- 
givings which they poured forth to the common father of 
Mussulmans and Christians, melted even the stout hearts 
of the English warriors who stood by. 

139. But we must not forget to do justice to Sir Elijah 
Impey's conduct on this occasion. It was not indeed easy 



102 Macaulay^ Warren Hastmgs. 

for him to intrude himself into a business so entirely alien 
from all his official duties. But there was something inex- 
pressibly alluring, we must suppose, in the peculiar rankness 
of the infamy which was then to be got at Lucknow. He 
hurried thither as fast as relays of palanquin-bearers could 
carry him. A crowd of people came before him with affida- 
vits against the Begums, ready drawn in their hands. 
Those affidavits he did not read. Some of them, indeed, he 
could not read ; for they were in the dialects of Northern 
India, and no interpreter was employed. He administered 
the oath to the deponents with all possible expedition, and 
asked not a single question, not even whether they had 
perused the statements to which they swore. This work 
performed, he got again into his palanquin, and posted back 
to Calcutta, to be in time for the opening of term. The 
cause was one which, by his own confession, lay altogether 
out of his jurisdiction. Under the charter of justice, he had 
no more right to inquire into crimes committed by Asiatics 
in Oude than the Lord President of the Court of Sessions of 
Scotland to hold an assize at Exeter. He had no right to 
try the Begums, nor did he pretend to try them. With 
what object, then, did he undertake so long a journey ? 
Evidently in order that he might give, in an irregular 
manner, that sanction which in a regular manner he could 
not give, to the crimes of those who had recently hired 
him ; and in order that a confused mass of testimony which 
he did. not sift, which he did not even read, might acquire 
an authority not properly belonging to it, from the signa- 
ture of the highest judicial functionary in India. 

140. The time was approaching, however, when he was to 
be stripped of that robe which has never, since the Eevolu- 
tion, been disgraced so foully as by him. The state of 
India had for some time occupied much of the attention of 
the British Parliament. Towards the close of the Ameri- 



Maeaulay' 8 Warren Hastings. 103 

can war, two committees of the Commons sat on Eastern 
affairs. In one Edmund Burke took the lead. The other 
was under the presidency of the able and versatile Henry 
Dundas, then Lord Advocate of Scotland. Great as are the 
changes which, during the last sixty years, have taken 
place in our Asiatic dominions, the reports which those 
committees laid on the table of the House will still be 
found most interesting and instructive. 

141 . There was as yet no connection between the Company 
and either of the great parties in the state. The ministers 
had no motive to defend Indian abuses. On the contrary, 
it was for their interest to show, if possible, that the gov- 
ernment and patronage of our Oriental empire might, with 
advantage, be transferred to themselves. The votes there- 
fore, which, in consequence of the reports made by the two 
committees, were passed by the Commons, breathed the 
spirit of stern and indignant justice. The severest epithets 
were applied to several of the measures of Hastings, espe- 
cially to the Eohilla war ; and it was resolved, on the 
motion of Mr. Dundas, that the Company ought to recall a 
Governor-General who had brought such calamities on the 
Indian people, and such dishonor on the British name. 
An act was passed for limiting the jurisdiction of the 
Supreme Court. The bargain which Hastings had made 
with the Chief Justice was condemned in the strongest 
terms ; and an address was presented to the king, praying 
that Impey might be summoned home to answer for his 
misdeeds. 

142. Impey was recalled by a letter from the Secretary of 
State. But the proprietors of India Stock resolutely refused 
to dismiss Hastings from their service, and passed a resolu- 
tion affirming, what was undeniably true, that they were 
intrusted by law with the right of naming and removing 
their Governor-General, and that they were not bound to 



104 Maeaulay^ s Warren Hastings. 

obey the directions of a single branch of the legislature 
with respect to such nomination or removal. 

143. Thus supported by his employers, Hastings re- 
mained at the head of the government of Bengal till the 
spring of 1785. His administration, so eventful and stormy, 
closed in almost perfect quiet. In the Council there was 
no regular oppositioji to his measures. Peace was restored 
to India. The Mahratta war had ceased. Hyder was no 
more. A treaty had been concluded with his son, Tippoo ; 
and the Carnatic had been evacuated by the armies of 
Mysore. Since the termination of the American war, Eng- 
land had no European enemy or rival in the Eastern seas. > 

144. On a general review of the long administration of 
Hastings, it is impossible to deny that, against the great 
crimes by which it is blemished, we have to set off great 
public services. England had passed through a perilous 
crisis. She still, indeed, maintained her place in the fore- 
most rank of European powers ; and the manner in which 
she had defended herself against fearful odds had inspired 
surrounding nations with a high opinion both of her spirit 
and of her strength. Nevertheless, in every part of the 
world, except one, she had been a loser. Not only had she 
been compelled to. acknowledge the independence of thir- 
teen colonies peopled by her children, and to conciliate the 
Irish by giving up the right of legislating for them; but, 
in the Mediterranean, in the Gulf of Mexico, on the coast 
of Africa, on the continent of America, she had been com- 
pelled to cede the fruits of her victories in former wars. 
Spain regained Minorca and Florida; Erance regained Sene- 
gal, Goree, and several West Indian Islands. The only 
quarter of the world in which Britain had lost nothing was 
the quarter in which her interests had been committed to 
the care of Hastings. In spite of the utmost exertions both 
of European and Asiatic enemies, -the power of our country. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 105 

in the East had been greatly augmented. Benares was 
subjected; the Xabob Vizier reduced to vassalage. That 
our influence had been thus extended, nay, that Fort 
William and Fort St. George had not been occupied by 
hostile armies, was owing, if we may trust the general 
voice of the English in India, to the skill and resolution of 
Hastings. 

145. His internal administration, with all its blemishes, 
gives him a title to be considered as one of the most remark- 
able men in our history. He dissolved the double govern- 
ment. He transferred the direction of affairs to English 
hands. Out of a frightful anarchy, he educed at least a 
rude and imperfect order. The whole organization by 
which justice was dispensed, revenue collected, peace main- 
tained throughout a territory not inferior in population to 
the dominions of Lewis the Sixteenth or of the Emperor 
Joseph, was formed and superintended by him. He boasted 
that every public office, without exception, which existed 
when he left Bengal, was his creation. It is quite true that 
this system, after all the improvements suggested by the 
experience of sixty years, still needs improvement, and that 
it was at first far more defective than it now is. But 
whoever seriously considers what it is to construct from the 
beginning the whole of a machine so vast and complex as a 
government, will allow that what Hastings effected deserves 
high admiration. To compare the most celebrated Euro- 
pean ministers to him seems to us as unjust as it would be 
to compare the best baker in London with Eobinson Crusoe, 
who, before he could bake a single loaf, had to make his 
plough and his harrow, his fences and his scarecrows, his 
sickle and his flail, his mill and his oven. 

146. The just fame of Hastings rises still higher, when 
we reflect that he was not bred a statesman ; that he was 
sent from school to a counting-house ; and that he was em- 



106 Macaulay % Warren Hastings. 

ployed during the prime of liis manhood as a commercial 
agent, far from all intellectual society. 

147. Nor must we forget that all, or almost all, to whom, 
when placed at the head of affairs, he could apply for 
assistance, were persons who owed as little as himself, or 
less than himself, to education. A minister in Europe 
finds himself, on the first day on which he commences his 
functions, surrounded by experienced public servants, the 
depositaries of official traditions. Hastings had no such 
help. His own reflection, his own energy, were to supply 
the place of all Downing Street and Somerset House. Hav- 
ing had no facilities for learning, he was forced to teach. * 
He had first to form himself, and then to form his instru- 
ments ; and this not in a single department, but in all the 
departments of the administration. 

148. It must be added that, while engaged in this most 
arduous task, he was constantly trammelled by orders from 
home, and frequently borne down by a majority in council. 
The preservation of an Empire from a formidable combina- 
tion of foreign enemies, the construction of a government 
in all its parts, were accomplished by him, while every 
ship brought out bales of censure from his employers, and 
while the records, of every consultation were filled with 
acrimonious minutes by his colleagues. We believe that 
there never was a public man whose temper was so severely 
tried; not Marlborough, when thwarted by the Dutch Depu- 
ties ; not Wellington, when he had to deal at once with the 
Portuguese Regency, the Spanish Juntas, and Mr. Percival. 
But the temper of Hastings was equal to almost any trial. 
It was not sweet ; but it was calm. Quick and vigorous as 
his intellect was, the patience with which he endured the 
most cruel vexations, till a remedy could be found, resem- 
bled the patience of stupidity. He seems to have been 
capable of resentment, bitter and long-enduring; yet his 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 107 

resentment so seldom hurried him into any blunder, that it 
may be doubted whether what appeared to be revenge was 
anything but policy. 

149. The effect of this singular equanimity was that he 
always had the full command of all the resources of one of 
the most fertile minds that ever existed. Accordingly no 
complication of perils and embarrassments could perplex 
him. For every difficulty he had a contrivance ready ; and, 
whatever may be thought of the justice and humanity of 
some of his contrivances, it is certain that they seldom failed 
to serve the purpose for which they were designed. 

150. Together with this extraordinary talent for devising 
expedients, Hastings possessed, in a very high degree, 
another talent scarcely less necessary to a man in his situ- 
ation ; we mean the talent for conducting, political contro- 
versy. It is as necessary to an English statesman in the 
East that he should be able to write, as it is to a minister 
in this country that he should be able to speak. It is 
chiefly by the oratory of a public man here that the nation 
judges of his powers. It is from the letters and reports of 
a public man in India that the dispensers of patronage form 
their estimate of him. In each case, the talent which 
receives peculiar encouragement is developed, perhaps at 
the expense of the other powers. In this country, we 
sometimes hear men speak above their abilities. It is not 
very unusual to find gentlemen in the Indian service who 
write above their abilities. The English politician is a 
little too much of a debater ; the Indian politician a little 
too much of an essayist. 

151. Of the numerous servants of the Company who have 
distinguished themselves as framers of minutes and de- 
spatches, Hastings stands at the head. He was indeed the 
person who gave to the official writing of the Indian govern- 
ments the character which it still retains. Hie was matched 



108 Macaulay' s Warren Hastiyigs. 

against no common antagonist. But even Francis was 
forced to acknowledge, with sullen and resentful candor, 
that there was no contending against the pen of Hastings. 
And, in truth, the Governor-General's power of making 
out a case, of perplexing what it was inconvenient that 
people should understand, and of setting in the clearest 
point of view whatever would bear the .light, was incom- 
parable. His style must be praised with some reservation. 
It .was in general forcible, pure, and polished ; but it was 
sometimes, though not often, turgid, and, on one or two 
occasions, even bombastic. Perhaps the fondness of Has- 
tings for Persian literature may have tended to corrupt his 
taste. 

152. And, since we have referred to his literary tastes, it 
would be most unjust not to praise the judicious encourage- 
ment which, as a ruler, he gave to liberal studies and curi- 
ous researches. His patronage was extended, with prudent 
generosity, to voyages, travels, experiments, publications. 
He did little, it is true, towards introducing into India the 
learning of the West. To make the young natives of 
Bengal familiar with Milton and Adam Smith, to substitute 
the geography, astronomy, and surgery of Europe for the 
dotages of the Brahminical superstition, or for the imper- 
fect science of ancient Greece transfused through Arabian 
expositions, this was a scheme reserved to crown the benefi- 
cent administration of a far more virtuous ruler. Still it 
is impossible to refuse high commendation to a man who, 
taken from a ledger to govern an empire, overwhelmed by 
public business, surrounded by people as busy as himself, 
and separated by thousands of leagues from almost all liter- 
ary society, gave, both by his example and by his munifi- 
cence, a great impulse to learning. In Persian and Arabic 
literature he was deeply skilled. With the Sanscrit he 
was not himself acquainted; but those who first brought 



Macaulay' s Warren Hastings. 109 

that language to the knowledge of European students owed 
much to his encouragement. It was under his protection 
that the Asiatic Society commenced its honorable career. 
That distinguished body selected him to be its first presi- 
dent ; but, with excellent taste and feeling, he declined the 
honor in favor of Sir William Jones. But the chief advan- 
tage which the students of Oriental letters derived from 
his patronage remains to be mentioned. The Pundits of 
Bengal had always looked with great jealousy on the 
attempts of foreigners to pry into those mysteries which 
were locked up in the sacred dialect. The Brahminical 
religion had been persecuted by the Mahommedans. What 
the Hindoos knew of the spirit of the Portuguese govern- 
ment might warrant them in apprehending persecution from 
Christians. That apprehension the wisdom and moderation 
of Hastings removed. He was the first foreign ruler who 
succeeded in gaining the confidence of the hereditary 
priests of India, and who induced them to lay open to 
English scholars the secrets of the old Brahminical theology 
and jurisprudence. 

153. It is indeed impossible to deny that, in the great art of 
inspiring large masses of human beings with confidence 
and attachment, no ruler ever surpassed Hastings. If he 
had made himself popular with the English by giving up 
the Bengalees to extortion and oppression, or if, on the 
other hand, he had conciliated the Bengalees and alienated 
the English,' there would have been no cause for wonder. 
What is peculiar to him is that, being the chief of a small 
band of strangers who exercised boundless power over a 
great indigenous population, he made himself beloved both 
by the subject many and by the dominant few. The affec- 
tion felt for him by the civil service was singularly ardent 
and constant. Through all his disasters and perils, his 
brethren stood by him with steadfast loyalty. The army, 



110 Macaulays Warren Hastings. 

at the same time, loved him as armies have seldom loved 
any but the greatest chiefs who have led them to victory. 
Even in his disputes with distinguished military men, he 
could always count on the support of the military profes- 
sion. While such was his empire over the hearts of his 
countrymen, he enjoyed among the natives a popularity, 
such as other governors have perhaps better merited, but 
such as no other governor has been able to attain. He 
spoke their vernacular dialects with facility and precision. 
He was intimately acquainted with their feelings and 
usages. On one or two occasions, for great ends, he delib- 
erately acted in defiance of their opinion; but on such 
occasions he gained more fn their respect than he lost in 
their love. In general, he carefully avoided all that could 
shock their national or religious prejudices. His admin- 
istration was indeed in many respects faulty ; but the 
Bengalee standard of good government was not high. Under 
the Nabobs, the hurricane of Mahratta cavalry had passed 
annually over the rich alluvial plain. But even the 
Mahratta shrank from a conflict with the mighty children 
of the sea ; and the immense rice harvests of the Lower 
Ganges were safely gathered in, under the protection of 
the English sword. The first English conquerors had been 
more rapacious and merciless even than the Mahrattas; but 
that generation had j)assed away. Defective as was the 
police, heavy as were the public burdens, it is probable 
that the oldest man in Bengal could not recollect a season 
of equal security and prosperity. For the first time within 
living memory, the province was placed under a govern- 
ment strong enough to prevent others from robbing, and 
not inclined to play the robber itself. These things 
inspired good-will. At the same time, the constant success 
of Hastings and the manner in which he extricated himself 
from every difficulty made him an object of superstitious 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. Ill 

admiration ; and the more than regal splendor which he 
sometimes displayed dazzled a people who have much in 
common with children. Even now, after the lapse of more 
than fifty years, the natives of India still talk of him as 
the greatest of the English ; and nurses sing children to 
sleep with a jingling ballad about the fleet horses and 
richly caparisoned elephants of Sahib Warren Hostein. 

154. The gravest offences of which Hastings was guilty 
did not affect his popularity with the people of Bengal ; for 
those offences were committed against neighboring states. 
Those offences, as our readers must have perceived, we 
are not disposed to vindicate ; yet, in order that the censure 
may be justly apportioned to the transgression, it is fit that 
the motive of the criminal should be taken into considera- 
tion. The motive which prompted the worst acts of Has- 
tings was misdirected and ill-regulated public spirit. The 
rules of justice, the sentiments of humanity, the plighted 
faith of treaties, were in his view as nothing, when opposed 
to the immediate interest of the state. This is no justifi- 
cation, according to the principles either of morality, or of 
what we believe to be identical with morality, namely, 
far-sighted policy. Nevertheless the common-sense of 
mankind, which in questions of this kind seldom goes far 
wrong, will always recognize a distinction between crimes 
which originate in an inordinate zeal for the commonwealth, 
and crimes which originate in selfish cupidity. To the 
benefit of this distinction Hastings is fairly entitled. There 
is, we conceive, no reason to suspect that the Eohilla war, 
the revolution of Benares, or the spoliation of the Prin- 
cesses of Oude, added a rupee to his fortune. We will not 
affirm that, in all pecuniary dealings, he showed that 
punctilious integrity, that dread of the faintest appearance 
of evil, which is now the glory of the Indian civil service. 
But when the school in which he had been trained and the 



112 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

temptations to which he was exposed are considered, we are 
more inclined to praise him for his general uprightness 
with respect to money, than rigidly to blame him for a few 
transactions which would now be called indelicate and 
irregular, but which even now would hardly be designated 
as corrupt. A rapacious man he certainly was not. Had 
he been so, he would infallibly have returned to his country 
the richest subject in Europe. We speak within compass, 
when we say that, without applying any extraordinary 
pressure he might easily have obtained from the zemindars 
of the Company's provinces and from neighboring princes, 
in the -course of thirteen years, more than three millions' 
sterling, and might have outshone the splendor of Carlton 
House and of the Palais Royal. He brought home a for- 
tune such as a Governor-General, fond of state, and careless 
of thrift, might easily, during so long a tenure of office, 
save out of his legal salary. Mrs. Hastings, we are afraid, 
was less scrupulous. It was generally believed that she 
accepted presents with great alacrity, and that she thus 
formed, without the connivance of her husband, a private 
hoard amounting to several lacs of rupees. We are the 
more inclined to give credit to this story, because Mr. 
Gleig, who cannot but have heard it, does not, as far as we 
have observed, notice or contradict it. 

155. The influence of Mrs. Hastings over her husband was 
indeed such that she might easily have obtained much 
larger sums than she was ever accused of receiving. At 
length her health began to give way ; and the Governor- 
General, much against his will, was compelled to send her, 
to England. He seems to have loved her with that love 
which is peculiar to men of strong minds, to men whose 
affection is not easily won or widel}^ diffused. The talk of 
Calcutta ran for some time on the luxurious manner in 
which he fitted up the round-house of an Indiaman for her 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 113 

accommodation, on the profusion of sandal -wood and carved 
ivory which adorned her cabin, and on the thousands of 
rupees which had been expended in order to procure for her 
the society of van agreeable female companion during the 
voyage. We may remark here that the letters of Hastings 
to his wife are exceedingly characteristic. They are ten- 
der, and full of indications of esteem and confidence; but, 
at the same time, a little more ceremonious than is usual 
in so intimate a relation. The solemn courtesy with which 
he compliments ^^ his elegant Marian " reminds us now and 
then of the dignified air with which Sir Charles Grandison 
bowed over Miss Byron's hand in the cedar parlor. 

156. After some months, Hastings prepared to follow his 
wife to England. When it was announced that he was about 
to quit his office, the feeling of the society which he had so 
long governed manifested itself by many signs. Addresses 
poured in from Europeans and Asiatics, from civil func- 
tionaries, soldiers, and traders. On the day on which he 
delivered up the keys of office, a crowd of friends and 
admirers formed a lane to the quay where he embarked. 
Several barges escorted him far down the river ; and some 
attached friends refused to quit him till the low coast of 
Bengal was fading from the view^ and till the pilot was 
leaving the ship. 

157. Of his voyage little is known, except that he amused 
himself with his books and with his pen; and that, among 
the compositions by which he beguiled the tediousness of 
that long leisure, was a pleasing imitation of Horace's Otium 
Divos rogat. This little poem was inscribed to Mr. Shore, 
afterwards Lord Teignmouth, a man of whose integrity, 
humanity, and honor it is impossible to speak too highly, 
but who, like some other excellent members of the civil 
service, extended to the conduct of his friend Hastings an 
indulgence of which his own conduct never stood in need. 



114 Macaulay' s Warren Hastings. 

158. The voyage was, for those times, very speedy. Has- 
tings was little more than four months on the sea. In June, 
1785, he landed at Plymouth, posted to London, appeared 
at Court, paid his respects in Leadenhall Street, and then 
retired with his wife to Cheltenham. 

159. He was greatly pleased with his reception. The 
King treated him with marked distinction. The Queen, 
who had already incurred much censure on account of the 
favor which, in spite of the ordinary severity of her virtue, 
she had shown to the " elegant Marian," was not less gra- 
cious to Hastings. The Directors received him in a solemn 
sitting; and their chairman read to him a vote of thanks' 
which they had passed without one dissentient voice. ^^ I 
find myself," said Hastings, in a letter written about a 
quarter of a year after his arrival in England, " I find 
myself everywhere, and universally, treated with evidences, 
apparent even to my own observation, that I possess the 
good opinion of my country." 

160. The confident and exulting tone of his correspondence 
about this time is the more remarkable, because he had 
already received ample notice of the attack which was in 
preparation. Within a week after he landed at Plymouth, 
Burke gave notice in the House of Commons of a motion 
seriously affecting a gentleman lately returned from India. 
The session, however, was then so far advanced, that it 
was impossible to enter on so extensive and important a 
subject. 

161. Hastings, it is clear, was not sensible of the danger 
of his position. Indeed that sagacity, that judgment, that, 
readiness in devising expedients, which had distinguished 
him in the East, seemed now to have forsaken him ; not 
that his abilities were at all impaired; not that he was not 
still the same man who had triumphed over Francis and 
Nuncomar, who had made the Chief Justice and the Nabob 



Macaulay % Warren Hantings, 115 

Vizier his tools, who had deposed Cheyte Sing, and repelled 
Hyder Ali. But an oak, as Mr. Grattan finely said, should 
not be transplanted at fifty. A man who, having left Eng- 
land when a boy, returns to it after thirty or forty years 
passed in India, will find, be his talents what they may, 
that he has much both to learn and to unlearn before he can 
take a place among English statesmen. The working of a 
representative system, the war of parties, the arts of debate, 
the influence of the press, are startling novelties to him. 
Surrounded on every side by new machines and new tactics, 
he is as much bewildered as Hannibal would have been at 
Waterloo, or Themistocles at Trafalgar. His very acute- 
ness deludes him. His very vigor causes him to stumble. 
The more correct his maxims, when applied to the state of 
society to which he is accustomed, the more certain they 
are to lead him astray. This was strikingly the case with 
Hastings. In India he had a bad hand : but he was master 
of the game, and he won every stake. In England he held 
excellent cards, if he had known how to play them ; and it 
was chiefly by his own errors that he was brought to the 
verge of ruin. 

162. Of all his errors the most serious was perhaps the 
choice of a champion. Clive, in similar circumstances, had 
made a singularly happy selection. He put himself into 
the hands of Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Loughborough, 
one of the few great advocates who have also been great in 
the House of Commons. To the defence of Clive, therefore, 
nothing was wanting, neither learning nor knowledge of 
the world, neither forensic acuteness nor that eloquence 
which charms political assemblies. Hastings intrusted his 
interests to a very different person, a major in the Bengal 
army, named Scott. This gentleman had been sent over 
from India some time before as an agent of the Governor- 
General. It was rumored that his services were rewarded 



116 Macaiday^s Warren Hastmgs. 

with Oriental munificence ; and we believe that he received 
much more than Hastings could conveniently s^^are. The 
Major obtained a seat in Parliament, and was there regarded 
as the organ of his employer. It was evidently impossible 
that a gentleman so situated could speak with the authority 
which belongs to an independent position. Nor had the 
agent of Hastings the talents necessary for obtaining the 
ear of an assembly which, accustomed to listen to great 
orators, had naturally become fastidious. He was always 
on his legs ; he was very tedious ; and he had only one 
topic, the merits and wrongs of Hastings. Everybody who 
knows the House of Commons will easily guess what fol- 
lowed. The Major was soon considered as the greatest 
bore of his time. His exertions were not confined to 
Parliament. There was hardly a day on which the news- 
papers did not contain some puff upon Hastings, signed 
Asiaticus or BengaJensis, but known to be written by the 
indefatigable Scott ; and hardly a month in which some 
bulky pamphlet on the same subject, and from the same 
pen, did not pass to the trunkmakers and the pastrycooks. 
As to this gentleman's capacity for conducting a delicate 
question through Parliament, our readers will want no 
evidence beyond that which they will find in letters pre- 
served in these volumes. We will give a single specimen 
of his temper and judgment. He designated the greatest 
man then living as " that reptile Mr. Burke." 

163. In spite, however, of this unfortunate choice, the 
general 'aspect of affairs was favorable to Hastings. The 
King was on his side. The Company and its servants were 
zealous in his cause. Among public men he had many 
ardent friends. Such were Lord Mansfield, who had outlived 
the vigor of his body, but not that of his mind ; and Lord 
Lansdown, who, though unconnected with any party, re- 
tained the importance which belongs to great talents and 



Macaulay' % Warren Hastings. 117 

knowledge. The ministers were generally believed to be 
favorable to the late Governor-General. They owed their 
power to the clamor which had been raised against Mr. Fox's 
East India Bill. The authors of that bill, when accused of 
invading vested rights, and of setting up powers unknown 
to the constitution, had defended themselves by pointing 
to the crimes of Hastings, and by arguing that abuses so 
extraordinary justified extraordinary measures. Those who, 
by opposing that bill, had raised themselves to the head of 
affairs, would naturally be inclined to extenuate the evils 
which had been made the plea for administering so violent 
a remedy ; and such, in fact, was their general disposition. 
The Lord Chancellor Thurlow, in particular, whose great 
place and force of intellect gave him a weight in the gov- 
ernment inferior only to that of Mr. Pitt, espoused the 
cause of Hastings with indecorous violence. Mr. Pitt, 
though he had censured many parts of the Indian system, 
had studiously abstained from saying a word against the 
late chief of the Indian government. To Major Scott, 
indeed, the young minister had in private extolled Hastings 
as a great, a wonderful man, who had the highest claims on 
the government. There was only one objection to granting 
all that so eminent a servant of the public could ask. The 
resolution of censure still remained on the journals of the 
House of Commons. That resolution was, indeed, unjust; 
but, till it was rescinded, could the minister advise the 
King to bestow any mark of approbation on the person cen- 
sured? If Major Scott is to be trusted, Mr. Pitt declared 
that this was the only reason which prevented the advisers 
of the Crown from conferring a peerage on the late Governor- 
General. Mr. Dundas was the only important member of 
the administration who was deeply committed to a different 
-view of the subject. He had moved the resolution which 
created the difficulty ; but even from him little was to be 



118 Macaulay' s Warren Hastings. 

apprehended. Since he had presided over the committee 
on Eastern affairs, great changes had taken place. He was 
surrounded by new allies ; he had fixed his hopes on new 
objects ; and whatever may have been his good qualities, 
— and he had many, — flattery itself never reckoned rigid 
consistency in the number. 

164. From the ministry, therefore, Hastings had every 
reason to expect support ; and the ministry was very power- 
ful. The opposition was loud and vehement against him. 
But the opposition, though formidable from the wealth and 
influence of some of its members, and from the admirable 
talents and eloquence of others, was outnumbered in Parlia- 
ment, and odious throughout the country. Nor, as far as 
we can judge, was the opposition generally desirous to 
engage in so serious an undertaking as the impeachment of 
an Indian Governor. Such an impeachment must last for 
years. It must impose on the chiefs of the party an immense 
load of labor. Yet it could scarcely, in any manner, affect 
the event of the great political game. The followers of 
the coalition were -therefore more inclined to revile Has- 
tings than to prosecute him. They lost no opportunity of 
coupling his name with the names of the most hateful 
tyrants of whom history makes mention. The wits of 
Brooks's aimed their keenest sarcasms both at his public 
and at his domestic life. Some fine diamonds which he 
had presented, as it was rumored, to the royal family, and 
a certain richly carved ivory bed which the Queen had done 
him the honor to accept from him, were favorite subjects of 
ridicule. One lively poet proposed that the great acts of 
the fair Marian's present husband should be immortalized 
by the pencil of his predecessor ; and that Imhoff should be 
employed to embellish the House of Commons with paint- 
ings of the bleeding Rohillas, of Nuncomar swinging, of 
Cheyte Sing letting himself down to the Ganges. Another, 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 119 

in an exquisitely humorous parody of Virgil's third eclogue, 
propounded the question, what that mineral could be of 
which the rays had power to make the most austere of 
princesses the friend of a wanton. A third described, with 
gay malevolence, the gorgeous appearance of Mrs. Hastings 
at St. James's, the galaxy of jewels, torn from Indian 
Begums, which adorned her head-dress, her necklace gleam- 
ing with future votes, and the depending questions that 
shone upon her ears. Satirical attacks of this description, 
and perhaps a motion for a vote of censure, would have 
satisfied the great body of the opposition. But there were 
two men whose indignation was not to be so appeased, 
Philip Francis and l!dmund Burke. 

165. Francis had recently entered the House of Commons, 
and had already established a character there for industry 
and ability. He labored indeed under one most unfortunate 
defect, want of fluency. But he occasionally ' expressed 
himself with a dignity and energy worthy of the greatest 
orators. Before he had been many days in Parliament, he 
incurred the bitter dislike of Pitt, who constantly treated 
him with as much asperity as the laws of debate would 
allow. JSTeither lapse of years nor change of scene had 
mitigated the enmities which Francis had brought back 
from the East. After his usual fashion, he mistook his 
malevolence for virtue, nursed it, as preachers tell us that 
we ought to nurse our good dispositions, and paraded it, 
on all occasions, with Pharisaical ostentation. 

166. The zeal of Burke was still fiercer ; but it was far 
purer. Men unable to understand the elevation of his mind 
Jiave tried to find out some discreditable motive for the vehe- 
mence and pertinacity which he showed on this occasion. 
But they have altogether failed. The idle story that he 
had some private slight to revenge has long been given up, 
even by the advocates of Hastings. Mr. Gleig supposes 



120 Macaulay % Warren Hastings, 

that Burke was actuated by party spirit, that he retained 
a bitter remembrance of the fall of the coalition, that he 
attributed that fall to the exertions of the East India 
interest, and that he considered Hastings as the head and 
the representative of that interest. This explanation seems 
to be sufficiently refuted by a reference to dates. The 
hostility of Burke to Hastings commenced long before the 
coalition ; and lasted long after Burke had become a stren- 
uous supporter of those by whom the coalition had been 
defeated. It began when Burke and Fox, closely allied 
together, were attacking the influence of the crown, and 
calling for peace with the American republic. It continued 
till Burke, alienated from Fox, and loaded with the favors 
of the crown, died, preaching a crusade against the French 
republic. We surely cannot attribute to the events of 1784 
an enmity which began in 1781, and which retained undi- 
minished force long after persons far more deeply implicated 
than Hastings in the events of 1784 had been cordially 
forgiven. And why should we look for any other explana- 
tion of Burke's conduct than that which we find on the 
surface ? The plain truth is that Hastings had committed 
some great crimes, and that the thought of those crimes 
made the blood of Burke boil in his veins. For Burke was 
a man in whom compassion for suffering, and hatred of 
injustice and tyranny, were as strong as in Las Casas or 
Clarkson. And although in him, as in Las Casas and in 
Clarkson, these noble feelings were alloyed with the infirm- 
ity which belongs to human nature, he is, like them, entitled 
to this great praise, that he devoted years of intense labor 
to the service of a people with whom he had neither blood 
nor language, neither religion nor manners in common, and 
from whom no requital, no thanks, no applause could be 
expected. 

167. His knowledge of India was such as few^ even of 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 121 

those Europeans who have passed many years in that 
country, have attained, and such as certainly was never 
attained by any public man who had not quitted Europe. 
He had studied the history, the laws, and the usages of the 
East with an industry, such as is seldom found united to so 
much genius and so much sensibility. Others have perhaps 
been equally laborious, and have collected an equal mass of 
materials. But the manner in which Burke brought his 
higher powers of intellect to work on statements of facts, 
and on tables of figures, was peculiar to himself. In every 
part of those huge bales of Indian information which repelled 
almost all other readers, his mind, at once philosophical 
and poetical, found something to instruct or to delight. 
His reason analyzed and digested those vast and shapeless 
masses ; his imagination animated and colored them. Out 
of darkness, and dulness, and confusion, he formed a mul- 
titude of ingenious theories and vivid pictures. He had, 
in the highest degree, that noble faculty whereby man is 
able to live in the past and in the future, in the distant 
and in the unreal. India and its inhabitants were not to 
him, as to most Englishmen, mere names and abstractions, 
but a real country and a real people. The burning sun, the 
strange vegetation of the palm and the cocoa tree, the rice- 
field, the tank, the huge trees, older than the Mogul empire, 
under which the village crowds assemble, the thatched roof 
of the peasant's hut, the rich tracery of the mosque where 
the imaum prays with his face to Mecca, the drums, and 
banners, and gaudy idols, the devotee swinging in the air, 
the graceful maiden, with the pitcher on her head, descend- 
ing the steps to the river-side, the black faces, the long 
beards, the yellow streaks of sect, the turbans and the 
flowing robes, the spears and the silver maces, the elephants 
with their canopies of state, the gorgeous palanquin of the 
prince, and the close litter of the noble lady, all these 



122 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

things were to him as the objects amidst which his own life 
had been passed, as the objects which lay on the road be- 
tween Beaconsfield and St. James's Street. Air India was 
present to the eye of his mind; from the halls where suitors 
laid gold and perfumes at the feet of sovereigns to the wild 
moor where the gypsy camp was pitched; from the bazaar, 
humming like a bee-hive with the crowd of buyers and 
sellers, to the jungle where the lonely courier shakes his 
bunch of iron rings to scare away the hyenas. He had just 
as lively an idea of the insurrection at Benares as of Lord 
G-eorge Gordon's riots, and of the execution of Nuncomar 
as of the execution of Dr. Dodd. Oppression in Bengal 
was to him the same thing as oppression in the streets of 
London. 

168. He saw that Hastings had been guilty of some most 
unjustifiable acts. All that followed was natural and neces- 
sary in a mind like Burke's. His imagination and his 
passions, once excited, hurried him beyond the bounds of 
justice and good sense. His reason, powerful as it was, 
became the slave of feelings which it should have controlled. 
His indignation, virtuous in its origin, acquired too much 
of the character of personal aversion. He could see no 
mitigating circumstance, no redeeming merit. His temper, 
which, though generous and affectionate, had always been 
irritable, had now been made almost savage by bodily in- 
firmities and mental vexations. Conscious of great powers 
and great virtues, he found himself, in age and poverty, a 
mark for the hatred of a perfidious court and a deluded 
people. In Parliament his eloquence was out of date. A 
young generation, which knew him not, had filled the 
House. Whenever he rose to speak, his voice was drowned 
^ by the unseemly interruption of lads who were in their 
cradles when his orations on the Stamp Act called forth the 
applause of the great Earl of Chatham. These things had 



Macaulays 'Warren Hastings. 123 

produced on his proud and sensitive spirit an effect at which 
we cannot wonder. He could no longer discuss any ques- 
tion with calmness, or make allowance for honest differ- 
ences of opinion. Those who think that he was more 
violent and acrimonious in debates about India than on 
other occasions are ill informed respecting the last years 
of his life. In the discussions on the Commercial Treaty 
with the Court of Versailles, on the Eegency, on the French 
Eevolution, he showed even more virulence than in con- 
ducting the impeachment. Indeed it may be remarked that 
the very persons who called him a mischievous maniac, for 
condemning in burning words the Kohilla war and the 
spoliation of the Begums, exalted him into a prophet as 
soon as lie began to declaim, with greater vehemence, and 
not with greater reason, against the taking of the Bastile 
and the insults offered to Marie Antoinette. To us he 
appears to have been neither a maniac in the former case, 
nor a prophet in the latter, but in both cases a great and 
good man, led into extravagance by a sensibility which 
domineered over all his faculties. 

169. It may be doubted whether the personal antipathy 
of Francis or the nobler indignation of Burke, would have 
led their party to adopt extreme measures against Hastings, 
if his own conduct had been judicious. He should have felt 
that, great as his public services had been, he was not 
faultless, and should have been content to make his escape, 
without aspiring to the honors of a triumph. He and his 
agent took a different view. They were impatient for the 
rewards which, as they conceived, were deferred only till 
Burke's attack should be over. They accordingly resolved 
to force on a decisive action with an enemy for whom, if 
they had been wise, they would have made a bridge of gold. 
On the first day of the session in 1786, Major Scott reminded 
Burke of tbe notice given in the preceding year, and asked 



124 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

whetlier it was seriously intended to bring any charge 
against the late Governor-General. This challenge left no 
course open to the Opposition, except to come forward as 
accusers, or to acknowledge themselves calumniators. The 
administration of Hastings had not been so blameless, nor 
was the great party of Fox and North so feeble, that it 
could be prudent to venture on so bold a defiance. The 
leaders of the Opposition instantly returned the only an- 
swer which they could with honor return ; and the whole 
party was irrevocably pledged to a prosecution. 

170. Burke began his operations by applying for Papers. 
Some of the documents for which he asked were refused by 
the ministers, who, in the debate, held language such as 
strongly confirmed the prevailing opinion, that they intended 
to support Hastings. In April, the charges were laid on 
the table. They had been drawn by Burke with great 
ability, though in a form too much resembling that of a 
pamphlet. Hastings was furnished with a copy of the 
accusation ; and it was intimated to him that he might, if 
he thought fit, be heard in his own defence at the bar of the 
Commons. 

171. Here again Hastings was pursued by the same fa- 
tality which had attended him ever since the day when he 
set foot on English ground. It seemed to be decreed that 
this man, so politic and so successful in the East, should com- 
mit nothing but blunders in Europe. Any judicious adviser 
would have told him that the best thing which he could do 
would be to make an eloquent, forcible, and affecting ora- 
tion at the bar of the House; but that, if he could not 
trust himself to speak, and found it necessary to read, he 
ought to be as concise as possible. Audiences accustomed 
to extemporaneous debating of the highest excellence are 
always impatient of long written compositions. Hastings, 
however, sat down as he would have done at the Govern- 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 125 

ment-house in Bengal, and prepared a paper of immense 
length. That paper, if recorded on the consultation of an 
Indian administration, would have been justly praised as a 
very able minute. But it was now out of place. It fell 
flat, as the best written defence must have fallen flat, on an 
assembly accustomed to the animated and strenuous con- 
flicts of Pitt and Fox. The members, as soon as their 
curiosity about the face and demeanor of so eminent a 
stranger was satisfied, walked away to dinner, and left 
Hastings to tell his story till midnight to the clerks and 
the Serjeant-at-arms. 

172. All preliminary steps having been duly taken, Burke, 
in the beginning of June, brought forward the charge relat- 
ing to the Rohilla war. He acted discreetly in placing this 
accusation in the van; for Dundas had formerly moved, 
and the House had adopted, a resolution condemning, in 
the most severe terms, the policy followed by Hastings 
with regard to Eohilcund. Dundas had little, or rather 
nothing, to say in defence of his own consistency ; but he 
put a bold face on the matter, and opposed the motion. 
Among other things, he declared that, though he still 
thought the Rohilla war unjustifiable, he considered the 
services which Hastings had subsequently rendered to the 
state as sufficient to atone even for so great an offence. 
Pitt did not speak, but voted with Dundas ; and Hastings 
was absolved by a hundred and nineteen votes against sixty- 
seven. 

173. Hastings was now confident of victory. It seemed, 
indeed, that he had reason to be so. The Eohilla war was, 
of all his measures, that which his accusers might with 
greatest advantage assail. It had been condemned by the 
Court of Directors. It had been condemned by the House 
of Commons. It had been condemned by Mr. Dundas, who 
had since become the chief minister of the Crown for 



126 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

Indian affairs. Yet Burke, having chosen this strong 
ground, had been completely defeated on it. That, having 
failed here, he should succeed on any point, was generally 
thought impossible. It was rumored at the clubs and 
coffee-houses that one or perhaps two more charges would 
be brought forward ; that if, on those charges, the sense of 
the House of Commons should be against impeachment, the 
Opposition would let the matter drop, that Hastings would 
be immediately raised to the peerage, decorated with the 
star of the Bath, sworn of the privy council, and invited 
to lend the assistance of his talents and experience to the 
India board. Lord Thurlow, indeed, some months before, 
had spoken with contempt of the scruples which prevented 
Pitt from calling Hastings to the House of Lords ; and had 
even said that, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer was 
afraid of the Commons, there was nothing to prevent the 
Keeper of the Great Seal from taking the royal pleasure 
about a patent of peerage. The very title was chosen. 
Hastings was to be Lord Daylesford. For, through all 
changes of scene and changes of fortune, remained un- 
changed his attachment to the spot which had witnessed the 
greatness and the fall of his family, and which had borne 
so great a part in the first dreams of his young ambition. 

174. But in a very few days these fair prospects were 
overcast. On the thirteenth of June, Mr. Fox brought for- 
ward, with great ability and eloquence, the charge respect- 
ing the treatment of Cheyte Sing. Francis followed on the 
same side. The friends of Hastings were in high spirits 
when Pitt rose. With his usual abundance and felicity of 
language, the Minister gave his opinion on the case. Hie 
maintained that the Governor-General was justified in call- 
ing on the Eajah of Benares for pecuniary assistance, and 
in imposing a fine when that assistance was contumaciously 
withheld. He also thought that the conduct of the Gov- 



Macaulays Warren Hastings. 127 

ernor-G-eneral during the insurrection had been distinguished 
by ability and presence of mind. He censured, with great 
bitterness, the conduct of Francis, both in India and in 
Parliament, as most dishonest and malignant. The neces- 
sary inference from Pitt's arguments seemed to be that 
Hastings ought to be honorably acquitted; and both the 
friends and the opponents of the Minister expected from 
him a declaration to that effect. To the astonishment of all 
parties, he concluded by saying that, though he thought it 
right in Hastings to fine Cheyte Sing for contumacy, yet the 
amount of the fine was too great for the occasion. On this 
ground, and on this ground alone, did Mr. Pitt, applauding 
every other part of the conduct of Hastings with regard to 
Benares, declare that he should vote in favor of Mr. Pox's 
motion. 

175. The House was thunderstruck ; and it well might 
be so. For the wrong done to Cheyte Sing, even had it 
been as flagitious as Fox and Francis contended, was a trifle 
when compared with the horrors which had been inflicted on 
Eohilcund. But if Mr. Pitt's view of the case of Cheyte 
Sing were correct, there was no ground for an impeachment, 
or even for a vote of censure. If the offence of Hastings 
was really no more than this, that, having a right to im- 
pose a mulct, the amount of which mulct was not defined, 
but was left to be settled by his discretion, he had, not for 
his own advantage, but for that of the state, demanded too 
much, was this an offence which required a criminal pro- 
ceeding of the highest solemnity, a criminal proceeding, to 
which, during sixty years, no public functionary had been 
subjected? We can see, we think, in what way a man of 
sense and integrity might have been induced to take any 
course respecting Hastings, except the course which Mr. 
Pitt took. Such a man might have thought a great exam- 
ple necessary, for the preventing of injustice, and for the 



128 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

vindicating of the national honor, and might, on that 
ground, have voted for impeachment both on the Rohilla 
charge, and on the Benares charge. Such a man might 
have thought that the offences of Hastings had been atoned 
for by great services, and miglit, on that ground, have voted 
against the impeachment, on both charges. With great 
diffidence, we give it as our opinion that the most correct 
course would, on the whole, have been to impeach on the 
Eohilla charge, and to acquit on the Benares charge. Had 
the Benares charge appeared to us in the same light in 
which it appeared to Mr. Pitt, we should, without hesita- 
tion, have voted for acquittal on that charge. The one 
course which it is inconceivable that any man of a tenth 
part of Mr. Pitt's abilities can have honestly taken was the 
course which he took. He acquitted Hastings on the 
Eohilla charge. He softened down the Benares charge till 
it became no charge at all ; and then he pronounced that it 
contained matter for impeachment. 

176. Nor must it be forgotten that the principal reason 
assigned by the ministry for not impeaching Hastings on 
account of the Eohilla war was this, that the delinquencies 
of the early part of his administration had been atoned for by 
the excellence of the later part. Was it not most extraordi- 
nary that men who had held this language could afterwards 
vote that the later part of his administration furnished 
matter for no less than twenty articles of impeachment ? 
They first represented the conduct of Hastings in 1780 and 
1781 as so highly meritorious that, like works of superero- 
gation in the Catholic theology, it ought to be efficacious 
for the cancelling of former offences ; and they then prose- 
cuted him for his conduct in 1780 and 1781. 

177. The general astonishment was the greater, because, 
only twenty-four hours before, the members on whom the 
minister could depend had received the usual notes from 



Maoaulay'% Warren Hastings. 129 

the Treasury, begging them to be in their places and to vote 
against Mr. Fox's motion. It was asserted by Mr. Has- 
tings, that, early on the morning of the very day on which 
the debate took place, Dnndas called on Pitt, woke him, 
and was closeted with him many hours. The result of this 
conference was a determination to give up the late Gov- 
ernor-General to the vengeance of the Opposition. It was 
impossible even for the most powerful minister to carry all 
his followers with him in so strange a course. Several 
persons high in office, the Attorney-General, Mr. Grenville, 
and Lord Mulgrave, divided, against Mr. Pitt. But the 
devoted adherents who stood by the head of the government 
without asking questions, were sufficiently numerous to 
turn the scale. A hundred and nineteen members voted 
for Mr. Fox's motion ; seventy-nine against it. Dundas 
silently followed Pitt. 

178. That good and great man, the late William Wilber- 
force, often related the events of this remarkable night. 
He described the amazement of the House, and the bitter 
reflections which were muttered against the Prime Minister 
by some of the habitual supporters of government. Pitt 
himself appeared to feel that his conduct required some 
explanation. He left the treasury bench, sat for some time 
next to Mr. Wilberforce, and very earnestly declared that 
he had found it impossible, as a man of conscience, to 
stand any longer by Hastings. The business, he said, was 
too bad. Mr. Wilberforce, we are bound to add, fully 
believed that his friend was sincere, and that the suspicions 
to which this mysterious affair gave rise were altogether 
unfounded. 

179. Those suspicions, indeed, were such as it is painful 
to mention. The friends of Hastings, most of whom, it is 
to be observed, generally supported the administration, 
affirmed that the motive of Pitt and Dundas was jealousy. 



130 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

Hastings was personally a favorite with the King. He was 
the idol of the East India Company and of its servants. If 
he were absolved by the Commons, seated among the Lords, 
admitted to the Board of Control, closely allied with the 
strong-minded and imperious Thurlow, was it not almost 
certain that he would soon draw to himself the entire man- 
agement of Eastern affairs ? Was it not possible that he 
might become a formidable rival in the cabinet ? It had 
probably got abroad that very singular communications had 
taken place between Thurlow and Major Scott, and that, 
if the First Lord of the Treasury was afraid to recommend 
Hastings for a peerage, the Chancellor was ready to take 
the responsibility of that step on himself. Of all ministers, 
Pitt was the least likely to submit with patience to such an 
encroachment on his functions. If the Commons impeached 
Hastings, all danger was at an end. The proceeding, how- 
ever it might terminate, would probably last some years. 
In the meantime, the accused person would be excluded 
from honors and public employments, and could scarcely 
venture even to pay his duty at court. Such were the 
motives attributed by a great part of the public to the 
young minister, whose ruling passion was generally be- 
lieved to be avarice of power. 

180. The prorogation soon interrupted the discussions 
respecting Hastings. In the following year, those discus- 
sions were resumed. The charge touching the spoliation of 
the Begums was brought forward by Sheridan, in a speech 
which" was so imperfectly reported that it may be said to 
be wholly lost, but which was, without doubt, the most 
elaborately brilliant of all the productions of his ingenious 
mind. The impression which it produced was such as has 
never been equalled. He sat down, not merely amidst 
cheering, but amidst the loud clapping of hands, in which 
the Lords below the bar and the strangers in the gallery 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 131 

joined. The excitement of the House was such that no 
other speaker could obtain a hearing ; and the debate was 
adjourned. The ferment spread fast through the town. 
Within four and twenty hours, Sheridan was offered a 
thousand pounds for the copyright of the speech, if he 
would himself correct it for the press. The impression 
made by this remarkable display of eloquence on severe and 
experienced critics, whose discernment may be supposed to 
have been quickened by emulation, was deep and permanent. 
Mr. Windham, twenty years later, said that the speech de- 
served all its fame, and was, in spite of some faults of taste, 
such as were seldom wanting either in the literary or in the 
parliamentary performances of Sheridan, the finest that had 
been delivered within the memory of man. Mr. Fox, about 
the same time, being asked by the late Lord Holland what 
was the best speech ever made in the House of Commons, 
assigned the first place, without hesitation, to the great ora- 
tion of Sheridan on the Oiide charge. 

181. When the debate was resumed, the tide ran so 
strongly against the accused that his friends were coughed 
and scraped down. Pitt declared himself for Sheridan's 
motion; and the question was carried by a hundred and 
seventy-five votes against sixty-eight. 

182. The Opposition, flushed with victory and strongly 
supported by the public sympathy, proceeded to bring for- 
ward a succession of charges relating chiefly to pecuniary 
transactions. The friends of Hastings were discouraged, 
and having now no hope of being able to avert an impeach- 
ment, were not very strenuous in their exertions. At length 
the House, having agreed to twenty articles of charge, 
directed Burke to go before the Lords, and to impeach the 
late Governor-General of High Crimes and Misdemeanors. 
Hastings was at the same time arrested by the Serjeant-at- 
arms, and carried to the bar of the Peers. 



132 Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 

183. The session was now within ten days of its close. It 
was, therefore, impossible that any progress could be made 
in the trial till the next year. Hastings was admitted to 
bail ; and further proceedings were postponed till the Houses 
should re-assemble. 

184. When Parliament met in the following winter, the 
Commons proceeded to elect a committee for managing the 
impeachment. Burke stood at the head; and with him 
were associated most of the leading members of the Oppo- 
sition. But when the name of Erancis was read a fierce 
contention arose. It was said that Erancis and Hastings 
were notoriously on bad terms, that they had been at fend 
during many years, that on one occasion their mutual aver- 
sion had impelled them to seek each other's lives, and that 
it would be improper and indelicate to select a private 
enemy to be a public accuser. It was urged on the other 
side with great force, particularly by Mr. Windham, that 
impartiality, though the first duty of a judge, had never 
been reckoned among the qualities of an advocate ; that in 
the ordinary administration of criminal justice among the 
English, the aggrieved party, the very last person who ought 
to be admitted into the jury-box, is the prosecutor; that 
what was wanted in a manager was, not that he should be 
free from bias, but that he should be able, well informed, 
energetic, and active. The ability and information of 
Erancis were admitted ; and the very animosity with which 
he was reproached, whether a virtue or a vice, was at least 
a pledge for his energy and activity. It seems difficult to 
refute these arguments. But the inveterate hatred borne 
by Erancis to Hastings > had excited general disgust. The 
House decided that Erancis should not be a manager. Pitt 
voted with the majority, Dundas with the minority. 

185. In the meantime, the preparations for the trial had 
proceeded rapidly; and on the 13th of Eebruary, 1788, 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 133 

the sittings of tlie Court commenced. There have been 
spectacles more dazzling to the eye, more gorgeous with 
jewelry and cloth of gold, more attractive to grown-up 
children, than that which was then exhibited at Westmin- 
ster ; but, perhaps, there never was a spectacle so well cal- 
culated to strike a highly cultivated, a reflecting, and 
imaginative mind. All the various kinds of interest which 
belong to the near and to the distant, to the present and to 
the past, were collected on one spot, and in one hour. All 
the talents and all the accomplishments which are developed 
by liberty and civilization were now displayed, with every 
advantage that could be derived both from co-operation and 
from contrast. Every step in the proceedings carried the 
mind either backward, through many troubled centuries, to 
the days when the foundations of our constitution were 
laid ; or far away, over boundless seas and deserts, to dusky 
nations living under strange stars, worshipping strange 
gods, and writing strange characters from right to left. 
The High Court of Parliament was to sit, according to forms 
handed down from the days of the Plantagenets, on an 
Englishman accused of exercising tyranny over the lord of 
the holy city of Benares, and over the ladies of the princely 
house of Oude. 

186. The place was worthy of such a trial. It was the 
great hall of William Rufus, the hall which had resounded 
with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings, the 
hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon and the 
just absolution of Somers, the hall where the eloquence of 
Strafford had for a moment awed and melted a victorious 
party inflamed with just resentment, the hall where Charles 
had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid 
courage which has half redeemed his fame. Neither mili- 
tary nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined 
with grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. 



134 Maeaulay's Warren Hastings. 

The peers, robed in gold and ermine, were marshalled by 
the heralds under Garter King-at-arms. The judges in 
their vestments of state attended to give advice on points 
of law. Near a hundred and seventy lords, three fourths 
of the Upper House as the Upper House then was, walked 
in solemn order from their usual place of assembling to the 
tribunal. The junior Baron present led the way, George 
Eliott, Lord Heathfield, recently ennobled for his memora- 
ble defence of Gibraltar against the fleets and armies of 
France and Spain. The long procession was closed by the 
Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of the realm, by the great 
dignitaries, and by the brothers and sons of the King. 
Last of all came the Prince of Wales, conspicuous by his 
fine person and noble bearing. The gray old walls were 
hung with scarlet. The long galleries were crowded by an 
audience such as has rarely excited the fears or the emula- 
tion of an orator. There were gathered together, from all 
parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous empire, 
grace and female loveliness, wit and learning, the repre- 
sentatives of every science and of every art. There were 
seated round the Queen the fair-haired young daughters of 
the house of Brunswick. There the Ambassadors of great 
Kings and Commonwealths gazed with admiration on a 
spectacle which no other country in the world could pre- 
sent. There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic beauty, 
looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imita- 
tions of the stage. There the historian of the Koman 
Empire thought of the days when Cicero pleaded the cause 
of Sicily against Yerres, and when, before a senate which 
still retained some show of freedom, Tacitus thundered 
against the oppressor of Africa. There were seen, side by 
side, the greatest painter and the greatest scholar of the 
age. The spectacle had allured Reynolds from that easel 
which has preserved to us the thoughtful foreheads of so 



Macaulay' s Warren Hastings. 135 

many writers and statesmen, and the sweet smiles of so 
many noble matrons. It had induced Parr to suspend his 
labors in that dark and profound mine from which he had 
extracted a vast treasure of erudition, a treasure too often 
buried in the earth, too often paraded with injudicious and 
inelegant ostentation, but still precious, massive, and splen- 
did. There appeared the voluptuous charms of her to 
whom the heir of the throne had in secret plighted his 
faith. There too was she, the beautiful mother of a beau- 
tiful race, the Saint Cecilia whose delicate features, lighted 
up by love and music, art has rescued from the common 
decay. There were the members of that brilliant society 
which quoted, criticised, and exchanged repartees, under 
the rich peacock-hangings of Mrs. Montague. And there 
the ladies whose lips, more persuasive than those of Fox 
himself, had carried the Westminster election against pal- 
ace and treasury, shone round Georgiana Duchess of 
Devonshire. 

187. The Serjeants made proclamation. Hastings ad- 
vanced to the bar, and bent his knee. The culprit was in- 
deed not unworthy of that great presence. He had ruled an 
extensive and populous country, had made laws and treaties, 
had sent forth armies, had set up and pulled down princes. 
And in his high place he had so borne himself, that all had 
feared him, that most had loved him, and that hatred itself 
could deny him no title to glory, except virtue. He looked 
like a great man, and not like a bad man. A person small 
and emaciated, yet deriving dignity from a carriage which, 
while it indicated deference to the court, indicated also 
habitual self-possession and self-respect, a high and intel- 
lectual forehead, a brow pensive, but not gloomy, a mouth 
of inflexible decision, a face pale and worn, but serene, on 
which was written, as legibly as under the picture in the 
council-chamber at Calcutta, Mens aequa in arduis; such 



136 Maeaulay'^s Warren Hastings. 

was the aspect with which the great Proconsul presented 
himself to his judges. 

188. His counsel accompanied him, men all of whom were 
afterwards raised by their talents and learning to the 
highest posts in- their profession, the bold and strong- 
minded Law, afterwards Chief Justice of the King's Bench ; 
the more humane and eloquent Dallas, afterwards Chief 
Justice of the Common Pleas ; and Plomer who, near twenty 
years later, successfully conducted in the same high court 
the defence of Lord Melville, and subsequently became Vice- 
chancellor and Master of the KoUs. 

189. But neither the culprit nor his advocates attracted 
so much notice as the accusers. In the midst of the blaze 
of red drapery, a space had been fitted up with green 
benches and tables for the Commons. The managers, with 
Burke at their head, appeared in full dress. The collectors 
of gossip did not fail to remark that even Fox, generally so 
regardless of his appearance, had paid to the illustrious tri- 
bunal the compliment of wearing a bag and sword. Pitt 
had refused to be one of the conductors of the impeach- 
ment ; and his commanding, copious, and sonorous eloquence 
was wanting to that great muster of various talents. Age 
and blindness had unfitted Lord North for the duties of a 
public prosecutor"; and his friends were left without the help 
of his excellent sense, his tact, and his urbanity. But, in 
spite of the absence of these two distinguished members of 
the Lower House, the box in which the managers stood con- 
tained -an array of speakers such as perhaps had not ap- 
peared together since the great age of Athenian eloquence. 
There were Pox and Sheridan, the English Demosthenes 
and the English Hyperides. There was Burke ignorant, 
indeed, or negligent of the art of adapting his reasonings and 
his style to the capacity and taste of his hearers, but in am- 
plitude of comprehension and richness of imagination supe- 



Macaulai/s Warren Hastings. 137 

rior to every orator, ancient or modern. There, with eyes 
reverentially fixed on Burke, appeared the finest gentleman 
of the age, his form developed by every manly exercise, his 
face beaming with 'intelligence and spirit, the ingenious, 
the chivalrous, the high-souled Windham. Nor, though 
surrounded by such men, did the youngest manager pass 
unnoticed. At an age when most of those who distinguish 
themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fel- 
lowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous 
place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection 
was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid 
talents and his unblemished honor. At twenty-three he 
had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran 
statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British 
Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood 
at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, 
accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigor of 
life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has 
passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, 
have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on- 
the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and ani- 
mated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form 
some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom 
he was not the foremost. 

190. The charges and the answers of Hastings were first 
read. The ceremony occupied two whole days, and was ren- 
dered less tedious than it would otherwise have been by the 
silver voice and just emphasis of Cowper, the clerk of the 
court, a near relation of the amiable poet. On the third day 
Burke rose. Four sittings were occupied by his opening 
speech, which was intended to be a general introduction to 
all the charges. With an exuberance of thought and a 
splendor of diction which more than satisfied the highly 
raised expectation of the audience, he described the charac- 



138 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

ter and institutions of the natives of India, recounted the 
circumstances in which the Asiatic empire of Britain had 
originated, and set forth the constitution of the Company 
and of the English Presidencies. Having thus attempted 
to communicate to his hearers an idea of Eastern society, as 
vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he proceeded 
to arraign the administration of Hastings as systematically 
conducted in defiance of morality, and public law. The 
energy and pathos of the great orator extorted expressions 
of unwonted admiration from the stern and hostile Chancel- 
lor, and, for a moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute 
heart of the defendant. The ladies in the galleries, unac- 
customed to such displays of eloquence, excited by the solem- 
nity of the occasion, and perhaps not unwilling to display 
their taste and sensibility, were in a state of uncontrol- 
lable emotion. Handkerchiefs were pulled out ; smelling- 
bottles were handed round; hysterical sobs and screams 
were heard ; and Mrs. Sheridan was carried out in a fit. 
At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice till the 
old arches of Irish oak resounded, " Therefore," said he, 
" hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons 
of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high 
crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of 
the Commons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has 
betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, 
whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the 
name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden 
under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. 
Lastly, in the name of human nature itself, in the name of 
both sexes, in the nariie of every age, in the name of every 
rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all ! " 
191. When the deep murmur of various emotions had 
subsided, Mr. Fox rose to address the Lords respecting the 
course of proceeding to be followed. The wish of the accusers. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 139 

was that the Court would bring to a close the investiga- 
tion of the first charge before the second was opened. The 
wish of Hastings and of his counsel was that the managers 
should open all the charges, and produce all the evidence 
for the prosecution, before the defence began. The Lords 
retired to their own House to consider the question. The 
Chancellor took the side of Hastings. Lord Loughbor- 
ough, who was now in opposition, supported the demand of 
the managers. The division showed which way the incli- 
nation of the tribunal leaned. A majority of near three 
to one decided in favor of the course for which Hastings 
contended. 

192. When the Court sat again, Mr. Fox, assisted by Mr. 
Grey, opened the charge respecting Cheyte Sing, and several 
days were spent in reading papers and hearing witnesses. 
The next article was that relating to the Princesses of Oude. 
The conduct of this part of the case was entrusted to Sheri- 
dan. The curiosity of the public to hear him was unbounded. 
His sparkling and highly finished declamation lasted two 
days ; but the Hall was crowded to suffocation during the 
whole time. It was said that fifty guineas had been paid 
for a single ticket. Sheridan, when he concluded, contrived, 
with a knowledge of stage effect which his father might have 
envied, to sink back, as if exhausted, into the arms of Burke, 
who hugged him with the energy of generous admiration. 

193. June was now far advanced. The session could not 
last much longer ; and the progress which had been made in 
the impeachment was not very satisfactory. There were 
twenty charges. On two only of these had even the case for 
the prosecution been heard ; and it was now a year since 
Hastings had been admitted to bail. 

194. The interest taken by the public in the trial was great 
when the Court began to sit, and rose to the height when 
Sheridan spoke on the charge relating to the Begums. 



140 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

From that time the excitement went down fast. The spec- 
tacle had lost the attraction of novelty. The great displays 
of rhetoric were over. What was behind was not of a 
nature to entice men of letters from their books in the 
morning, or to tempt ladies who had left the masquerade at 
two to be out of bed before eight. There remained exami- 
nations and cross-examinations. There remained statements 
of accounts. There remained the reading of papers, filled 
with words unintelligible to English ears, with lacs and 
crores, zemindars and aumils, sunnuds and perwannahs, 
jaghires and nuzzurs. There remained bickerings, not 
always carried on with the best taste or with the best temper, 
between the managers of the impeachment and the counsel 
for the defence, particularly between Mr. Burke and Mr. 
Law. There remained the endless marches and counter- 
marches of the Peers between their House and the Hall ; 
for as often as a point of law was to be discussed, their 
Lordships retired to discuss it apart ; and the consequence 
was, as a Peer wittily said, that the judges walked and the 
trial stood still. 

195. It is to be added that, in the spring of 1788, when 
the trial commenced, no important question, either of do- 
mestic or foreign .policy, occupied the public mind. The 
proceeding in Westminster Hall, therefore, naturally at- 
tracted most of the attention of Parliament and of the 
country. It was the one great event of that season. But 
in the following year the King's illness, the debates on the 
Regency, the expectation of a change of ministry, com- 
pletely diverted public attention from Indian affairs ; and 
within a fortnight after George the Third had returned 
thanks in St. Paul's for his recovery, the States-General 
of France met at Versailles. In the midst of the agitation 
produced by these events, the impeachment was for a 
time almost forgotten. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 141 

196. The trial in the Hall went on languidly. In the 
session of 1788, when the proceedings had the interest of 
novelty, and when the Peers had little other business before 
them, only thirty-five days were given to the impeachment. 
In 1789, the Regency Bill occupied the Upper House till the 
session was far advanced. When the King recovered the 
circuits were beginning. The judges left town; the Lords 
waited for the return of the oracles of jurisprudence ; and the 
consequence Avas that during the whole year only seventeen 
days were given to the case of Hastings. It was clear 
that the matter would be protracted to a length unpre- 
cedented in the annals of criminal law. 

197. In truth, it is impossible to deny that impeachment, 
though it is a fine ceremony, and though it may have been 
useful in the seventeenth century, is not a proceeding from 
which much good can now be expected. Whatever confi- 
dence may be placed in the decision of the Peers on an 
appeal arising out of ordinary litigation, it is certain that 
no man has the least confidence in their impartiality, when 
a great public functionary, charged with a great state 
crime, is brought to their bar. They are all politicians. 
There is hardly one among them whose vote on an impeach- 
ment may not be confidently predicted before a witness has 
been examined ; and, even if it were possible to rely on 
their justice, they would still be quite unfit to try such a 
cause as that of Hastings. They sit only during half the 
year. They have to transact much legislative and much 
judicial business. The law-lords, whose advice is required 
to guide the unlearned majority, are employed daily in 
administering justice elsewhere. It is impossible, there- 
fore, that during a busy session, the Upper House should 
give more than a few days to an impeachment. To expect 
that their Lordships would give up partridge-shooting, in 
order to bring the greatest delinquent to speedy justice, or 



142 Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 

to relieve accused innocence by speedy acquittal, would 
be unreasonable indeed. A well-constituted tribunal, sit- 
ting regularly six days in the week, and nine hours in the 
day, would have brought the trial of Hastings to a close in 
less than three months. The Lords had not finished their 
work in seven years. 

198. The result ceased to be a matter of doubt, from the 
time when the Lords resolved that they would be guided by 
the rules of evidence which are received in the inferior courts 
of the realm. Those rules, it is well known, exclude much 
information which would be quite sufficient to determine 
the conduct of any reasonable man, in the most important 
transactions of private life. These rules, at every assizes, 
save scores of culprits whom judges, jury, and spectators, 
firmly believe to be guilty. But when those rules were 
rigidly applied to offences committed many years before, at 
the distance of many thousands of miles, conviction was, of 
course, out of the question. We do not blame the accused 
and his counsel for availing themselves of every legal 
advantage in order to obtain an acquittal. But it is clear 
that an acquittal so obtained cannot be pleaded in bar of 
the judgment of history. 

199. Several attempts were made by the friends of Hastings 
to put a stop to the trial. In 1789 they proposed a vote of 
censure upon Burke, for some violent language which he 
had used respecting the death of Nuncomar and the con- 
nection between Hastings and Impey. Burke was then 
unpopular in the last degree both with the House and with 
the country. The asperity and indecency of some expres- 
sions which he had used during the debates on the Eegency 
had annoyed even his warmest friends. The vote of cen- 
sure was carried ; and those who had moved it hoped that 
the managers would resign in disgust. Burke was deeply 
hurt. But his zeal for what he considered as the cause of 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 143 

justice and mercy triumphed over his personal feelings. 
He received the censure of the House with dignity and 
meekness, and declared that no personal mortification or 
humiliation should induce him to flinch from the sacred 
duty which he had undertaken. 

200. In the following year the Parliament was dissolved ; 
and the friends of Hastings entertained a hope that the 
new House of Commons might not be disposed to go on with 
the impeachment. They began by maintaining that the 
whole proceeding was terminated by the dissolution. De- 
feated on this point, they made a direct motion that the 
impeachment should be dropped ; but they were defeated by 
the combined forces of the Government and the Opposition. 
It was, however, resolved that, for the sake of expedition, 
many of the articles should be withdrawn. In truth, had 
not some such measure been adopted, the trial would have 
lasted till the defendant was in his grave. 

201. At length, in the spring of 1795, the decision was 
pronounced, near eight years after Hastings had been brought 
by the Serjeant-at-arms of the Commons to the bar of the 
Lords. On the last day of this great procedure the public 
curiosity, long suspended, seemed to be revived. Anxiety 
about the judgment there could be none ; for it had been 
fully ascertained that there was a great majority for the 
defendant. Nevertheless many wished to see the pageant, 
and the Hall was as much crowded as on the first day. 
But those who, having been present on the first day, now 
bore a part in the proceedings of the last, were few ; and 
most of those few were altered men. 

202. As Hastings himself said, the arraignment had taken 
place before one generation, and the judgment was pro- 
nounced by another. The spectator could not look at the 
woolsack, or at the red benches of the Peers, or at the green 
benches of the Commons, without seeing something that 



144 Macaulay''s Warren Hastings. 

reminded him of the instability of all human things, of the 
instability of power and fame and life, of the more lamen- 
table instability of friendship. The great seal was borne 
before Lord Loughborough, who, when the trial com- 
menced, was a fierce opponent of Mr. Pitt's government, 
and who was now a member of that government, while 
Thurlow, who presided in the court when it first sat, 
estranged from all his old allies, sat scowling among the 
junior barons. Of about a hundred and sixty nobles who 
walked in the procession on the first day, sixty had been 
laid in their family vaults. Still more affecting must have 
been the sight of the managers' box. What had become 
of that fair fellowship so closely bound together by public 
and private ties, so resplendent with every talent and 
accomplishment? It had been scattered by calamities 
more bitter than the bitterness of death. The great chiefs 
were still living, and still in the full vigor of their genius. 
But their friendship was at an end. It had been violently 
and publicly dissolved, with tears and stormy reproaches. If 
those men, once so dear to each other, were now compelled 
to meet for the purpose of managing the impeachment, 
they met as strangers whom public business had brought 
together, and behaved to each other with cold and distant 
civility. Burke had in his vortex whirled away Windham. 
Fox had been followed by Sheridan and Grey. 

203. Only twenty-nine Peers voted. Of these only six 
found Hastings guilty on the charges relating to Chey te Sing 
and to' the Begums. On other charges, the majority in his 
favor was still greater. On some he was unanimously 
absolved. He was then called to the bar, was informed from 
the woolsack that the Lords had acquitted him, and was 
solemnly discharged. He bowed respectfully and retired. 

204. We have said that the decision had been fully ex- 
pected. It was also generally approved. At the commence- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 145 

ment of tlie trial there had been a strong and indeed 
unreasonable feeling against Hastings. At the close of the 
trial there was a feeling equally strong and equally unreason- 
able in his favor. One cause of the change was, no doubt, what 
is commonly called the fickleness of the multitude, but what 
seems to us to be merely the general law of human nature. 
Both in individuals and in masses violent excitement is 
always followed by remission, and often by reaction. We are 
all inclined to depreciate whatever we have overpraised, and, 
on the other hand, to show undue indulgence where we have 
shown undue rigor. It was thus in the case of Hastings. 
The length of his trial, moreover, made him an object of 
compassion. It was thought, and not without reason, that, 
even if he was guilty, he was still an ill-used man, and that 
an impeachment of eight years was more than a sufficient 
punishment. It was also felt that, though, in the ordinary 
course of criminal law, a defendant is not allowed to set off 
his good actions against his crimes, a great political cause 
should be tried on different principles, and that a man who 
had governed an empire during thirteen years might have 
done some very reprehensible things, and yet might be on 
the whole deserving of rewards and honors rather than of 
fine and imprisonment. The press, an instrument neglected 
by the prosecutors, was used by Hastings and his friends 
with great effect. Every ship, too, that arrived from Madras 
or Bengal, brought a cuddy full of his admirers. Every 
gentleman from India spoke of the late Governor-General as 
having deserved better, and having been treated worse, than 
any man living. The effect of this testimony unanimously 
given by all persons who knew the East, was naturally very 
great. Ketired members of the Indian services, civil and 
military, were settled in all corners of the kingdom. Each 
of them was, of course, in his own little circle, regarded as 
an oracle on an Indian question ; and they were, with 



146 Macaulay % Warren Hastings. 

scarcely one exception, the zealous advocates of Hastings. 
It is to be added, that the numerous addresses to the late 
Governor-General, which his friends in Bengal obtained 
from the natives and transmitted to England, made a con- 
siderable impression. To these addresses we attach little or 
no importance. That Hastings was beloved by the people 
whom he governed is true; but the eulogies of pundits, 
zemindars, Mahommedan doctors, do not prove it to be true. 
For an English collector or judge would have found it easy 
to induce any native who could write to sign a panegyric on 
the most odious ruler that ever was in India. It was said 
that at Benares, the very place at which the acts set forth 
in the first article of impeachment had been committed, the 
natives had erected a temple to Hastings ; and this story 
excited a strong sensation in England. Burke's observations 
on the apotheosis were admirable. He saw no reason for 
astonishment, he said, in the incident which had been repre- 
sented as so striking. He knew something of the mythology 
of the Brahmins. He knew that as they worshipped some 
gods from love, so they worshipped others from fear. He 
knew that they erected shrines, not only to the benignant 
deities of light and plenty, but also to the fiends who pre- 
side over smallpox and murder; nor did he at all dispute 
the claim of Mr. Hastings to be admitted into such a Pan- 
theon. This reply has always struck us as one of the finest 
that ever was made in Parliament. It is a grave and forcible 
argument, decorated by the most brilliant wit and fancy. 

205. Hastings was, however, safe. But in everything ex- 
cept character, he would have been far better off if, when first 
impeached, he had at once pleaded guilty, and paid a fine of 
fifty thousand pounds. He was a ruined man. The legal 
expenses of his defence had been enormous. The expenses 
which did not appear in his attorney's bill were perhaps 
larger still. Great sums had been paid to Major Scott. 



Macaulay^s Warren Hastings. 147 

Great sums had been laid out in bribing newspapers, reward- 
ing pamphleteers, and circulating tracts. Burke, so early as 
1790, declared in the House of Commons that twenty thou- 
sand pounds had been employed in corrupting the press. It 
is certain that no controversial weapon, from the gravest 
reasoning to the coarsest ribaldry, was left unemployed. 
Logan defended the accused Governor with great ability 
in prose. For the lovers of verse, the speeches of the 
managers were burlesqued in Simpkin's letters. It is, 
we are afraid, indisputable that Hastings stooped so low 
as to court the aid of that malignant and filthy baboon 
John Williams, who .called himself Anthony Pasquin. It 
was necessary to subsidize such allies largely. The pri- 
vate hoards of Mrs. Hastings had disappeared. It is said that 
the banker to whom they had been intrusted had failed. 
Still if Hastings had practised strict economy, he would, 
after all his losses, have had a moderate competence ; but 
in the management of his private affairs he was imprudent. 
The dearest wish of his heart had always been to regain 
Daylesford. At length, in the very year in which his trial 
commenced, the wish was accomplished; and the domain, 
alienated more than seventy years before, returned to the 
descendant of its old lords. But the manor house was a 
ruin ; and the grounds round it had, during many years, 
been utterly neglected. Hastings proceeded to build, to 
plant, to form a sheet of water, to excavate a grotto ; and, 
before he was dismissed from the bar of the House of Lords, 
he had expended more than forty thousand pounds in adorn- 
ing his seat. 

206. The general feeling both of the Directors and of the 
Proprietors of the East India Company was that he had 
great claims on them, that his services to them had been 
eminent, and that his misfortunes had been the effect of his 
zeal for their interest. His friends in Leadenhall Street 



148 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

proposed to reimburse him the costs of his trial, and to 
settle on him an annuity of five thousand pounds a year. 
But the consent of the Board of Control was necessary ; 
and at the head of the Board of Control was Mr. Dundas, 
who had himself been a party to the impeachment, who had, 
on that account, been reviled with great bitterness by the 
adherents of Hastings, and who, therefore, was not in a 
very complying mood. He refused to consent to what the 
Directors suggested. The Directors remonstrated. Along 
controversy followed. Hastings, in the meantime, was re- 
duced to such distress, that he could hardly pay his weekly 
bills. At length a compromise was made. An annuity for 
life of four thousand pounds was settled on Hastings ; and 
in order to enable him to meet pressing demands, he was to 
receive ten years' annuity in advance. The Company was 
also permitted to lend him fifty thousand pounds, to be 
repaid by instalments without interest. This relief, though 
given in the most absurd manner, was sufficient to enable 
the retired Governor to live in comfort, and even in luxury, 
if he had been a skilful manager. But he was careless 
and profuse, and was more than once under the necessity 
of applying to the Company for assistance, which was 
liberally given. 

207. He had security and affluence, but not the power and 
dignity which, when he landed from India, he had reason to 
expect. He had then looked forward to a coronet, a red 
riband, a seat at the Council Board, an office at Whitehall. 
He was then only fifty-two, and might hope for many years 
of bodily and mental vigor. The case was widely different 
when he left the bar of the Lords. He was now too old a 
man to turn his mind to a new class of studies and duties. 
He had no chance of receiving any mark of royal favor 
while Mr. Pitt remained in power ; and, when Mr. Pitt 
retired, Hastings was approaching his seventieth year. 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 149 

208. Once, and only once, after his acquittal, he interfered 
in politics ; and that interference was not much to his honor. 
In 1804 he exerted himself strenuously to prevent Mr. 
Addington, against whom Fox and Pitt had combined, from 
resigning the Treasury. It is difficult to believe that a man 
so able and energetic as Hastings can have thought that, 
when Bonaparte was at Boulogne with a great army, the 
defence of our island could safely be intrusted to a ministry 
which did not contain a single person whom flattery could 
describe as a great statesman. It is also certain that, on 
the important question which had raised Mr. Addington to 
power, and on which he differed from both Fox and Pitt, 
Hastings, as might have been expected, agreed with Fox 
and Pitt, and was decidedly opposed to Addington. Keli- 
gious intolerance has never been the vice of the Indian 
service, and certainly was not the vice of Hastings. But 
Mr. Addington had treated him with marked favor. Fox 
had been a principal manager of the impeachment. To 
Pitt it was owing that there had been an impeachment; 
and Hastings, we fear, was on this occasion guided by 
personal considerations, rather than by a regard to the 
public interest. 

209. The last twenty-four years of his life were chiefly 
passed at Daylesford. He amused himself with embellish- 
ing his grounds, riding fine Arab horses, fattening prize- 
cattle, and trying to rear Indian animals and vegetables in 
England. He sent for seeds of a very fine custard-apple, 
from the garden of what had once been his own villa, among 
the green hedgerows of Allipore. He tried also to naturalize 
in Worcestershire the delicious leechee, almost the only 
fruit of Bengal which deserves to be regretted even amidst 
the plenty of Covent Garden. The Mogul emperors, in the 
time of their greatness, had in vain attempted to introduce 
into Hindostan the goat of the. table-land of Thibet, whose 



150 Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 

down supplies the looms of Cashmere with the materials of 
the finest shawls. Hastings tried, with no better fortune, 
to rear a breed at Daylesford ; nor does he seem to have 
succeeded better with the cattle of Bootan, whose tails are 
in high esteem as the best fans for brushing away the 
mosquitoes. 

210. Literature divided his attention with his conserva- 
tories and his menagerie. He had always loved books, and 
they were now necessary to him. Though not a poet, in any- 
high sense of the word, he wrote neat and polished lines 
with great facility, and was fond of exercising this talent. 
Indeed, if we must speak out, he seems to have been more 
of a Trissotin than was to be expected from the powers of 
his mind, and from the great part which he had played in 
life. We are assured in these Memoirs that the first thing 
which he did in the morning was to write a copy of verses. 
When the family and guests assembled, the poem made its 
appearance as regularly as the eggs and rolls; and Mr. 
Gleig requires us to believe that, if from any accident 
Hastings came to the breakfast-table without one of his 
charming performances in his hand, the omission was felt 
by alias a grievous disappointment. Tastes differ widely. 
Eor ourselves, ^e must say that, however good the break- 
fasts at Daylesford may have been, — and we are assured 
that the tea was of the most aromatic flavor, and that 
neither tongue nor venison-pasty was wanting, — we should 
have thought the reckoning high if we had been forced to 
earn our repast by listening every day to a new madrigal 
or sonnet composed by our host. We are glad, however, 
that Mr. Gleig has preserved this little feature of charac- 
ter, though we think it by no means a beauty. It is good 
to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, 
and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the 
weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds. Dio- 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 151 

nysius in old times, Frederic in the last century, with 
capacity and vigor equal to the conduct of the greatest 
affairs, united all the little vanities and affectations of pro- 
vincial blue-stockings. These great examples may console 
the admirers of Hastings for the affliction of seeing him 
reduced to the level of the Hayleys and Sewards. 

211. When Hastings had passed many years in retirement, 
and had long outlived the common age of men, he again 
became for a short time an object of general attention. 
In 1813 the charter of the East India Company was re- 
newed; and much discussion about Indian affairs took 
place in Parliament.^ It was determined to examine wit- 
nesses at the bar of the Commons ; and Hastings was or- 
dered to attend. He had appeared at that bar once before. 
It was when he read his answer to the charges which 
Burke had laid on the table. Since that time twenty-seven 
years had elapsed 5 public feeling had undergone a complete 
change; the nation had now forgotten his faults, and re- 
membered only his services. The reappearance, too, of a 
man who had been among the most distinguished of a gen- 
eration that had passed away, who now belonged to history, 
and who seemed to have risen from the dead, could not but 
produce a solemn and pathetic effect. The Commons re- 
ceived him with acclamations, ordered a chair to be set for 
him, and, when he retired, rose and uncovered. There were, 
indeed, a few who did not sympathize with the general feel- 
ing. One or two of the managers of the impeachment 
were present. They sate in the same seats which they had 
occupied when they had been thanked for the services 
which they had rendered in Westminster Hall ; for, by the 
courtesy of the House, a member who had been thanked in 
his place is considered as having a right always to occupy 
that place. These gentlemen were not disposed to admit 
that they had employed several of the best years of their 



152 Macaulay''s Warren Hastings. 

lives in persecuting an innocent man. They accordingly- 
kept their seats, and pulled their hats over their brows ; 
but the exceptions only made the prevailing enthusiasm 
more remarkable. The Lords received the old man with 
similar tokens of respect. The University of Oxford con- 
ferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws; and, in the 
Sheldonian Theatre, the undergraduates welcomed him with 
tumultuous cheering. 

212. These marks of public esteem were soon followed by 
marks of royal favor. Hastings was sworn of the Privy 
Council, and was admitted to a long private audience of the 
Prince Kegent, who treated him very graciously. Wheh 
the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia visited 
England, Hastings appeared in their train both at Oxford 
and in Guildhall of London, and, though surrounded 
by a crowd of princes and great warriors, was everywhere 
received with marks of respect and admiration. He was 
presented by the Prince Regent both to Alexander and to 
Erederic William ; and his Royal Highness went so far as 
to declare in public that honors far higher than a seat in 
the Privy Council were due, and would soon be paid, to the 
man who had saved the British dominions in Asia. Has- 
tings now confidently expected a peerage ; but from some 
unexplained cause, he was again disappointed. 

213. He lived about four years longer, in the enjoyment 
of good spirits, of faculties not impaired to any painful or 
degrading extent, and of health such as is rarely enjoyed 
by those who attain such an age. At length, on the twenty- 
second of August, 1818, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, 
he met death with the same tranquil and decorous fortitude 
which he had opposed to all the trials of his various and 
eventful life. 

214. With all his faults, — and they were neither few nor 
small, — only one cemetery was worthy to contain his 



Macaulay's Warren Hastings. 153 

remains. In that temple of silence and reconciliation 
where the enmities of twenty generations lie buried, in the 
Great Abbey which has during many ages afforded a quiet 
resting-place to those whose minds and bodies have been 
shattered by the contentions of the Great Hall, the dust of 
the illustrious accused should have mingled with the dust 
of the illustrious accusers. This was not to be. Yet the 
place of interment was not ill chosen. Behind the chancel 
of the parish church of Daylesford, in earth which already 
held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hastings, 
was laid the coffin of the greatest man who has ever borne 
that ancient and widely extended name. On that very spot 
probably, fourscore years before, the little Warren, meanly 
clad and scantily fed, had played with the children of 
ploughmen. Even then his young mind had revolved plans 
which might be called romantic. Yet, however romantic, 
it is not likely that they had been so strange as the truth. 
Not only had the poor orphan retrieved the fallen fortunes 
of his line. Not only had he repurchased the old lands, 
and rebuilt the old dwelling. He had preserved and ex- 
tended an empire. He had founded a polity. He had 
administered government and war with more than the 
capacity of Eichelieu. He had patronized learning with 
the judicious liberality of Cosmo. He had been attacked 
by the most formidable combination of enemies that ever 
sought the destruction of a single victim; and over that 
combination, after a struggle of ten years, he had tri- 
umphed. He had at length gone down to his grave in the 
fulness of age, in peace, after so many troubles, in honor, 
after so much obloquy. 

215. Those who look on his character without favor or 
malevolence will pronounce that, in the two great elements* 
of all social virtue, in respect for the rights of others, and 
in sympathy for the sufferings of others, he was deficient. 



154 Macaulays Warren Hastings. 

His principles were somewhat lax. His heart was some- 
what hard. But though we cannot with truth describe him 
either as a righteous or as a merciful ruler, we cannot 
regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of 
his intellect, his rare talents for command, for adminis- 
tration, and for controversy, his dauntless courage, his 
honorable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests of the 
state, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of 
fortune, and never disturbed by either. 



QUESTIONS ON THE RHETORICAL 
QUALITIES OF THE ESSAY. 

(The numbers refer to paragraphs of the essay.) 
Macaulay's Sentences. 

As a man Macaulay was positive in his opinions, always cock- 
sure that he was right, always knew exactly what he wanted to 
say. We expect, therefore, to find his sentences firm in structure, 
clear, and forceful. 

" I learned from Macaulay," says Freeman, the historian, " that 
if I wished to be understood by others, or indeed by myself, I must 
avoid, not always long sentences — for long sentences may often be 
perfectly clear — but involved, complicated, parenthetical sentences. 
I learned that I must avoid sentences crowded with relatives and 
participles; sentences in which things are not so much directly 
stated as implied in some dark and puzzling fashion. I learned, 
also, never to be afraid of using the same word or name over and 
over again, if by that means anything could be added to clearness 
or force. Macaulay never goes on, like some writers, talking 
about * the former ' and ' the latter,' ' he, she, it, they,' through 
clause after clause, while his reader has to look back to see which 
of several persons it is that is so darkly referred to. No doubt a 
pronoun, like any other word, may often be repeated with advan- 
tage, if it is perfectly clear who is meant by the noun. And with 
Macaulay's pronouns it is always perfectly clear who is meant by 
them." 

1. Classify the sentences as periodic or loose. 

2. Find an instance of inversion. 

3. Why not unite the second and third sentences by a semi- 
colon ? the fourth and fifth also ? Why not divide the last sen- 
tence into three ? 

155 



156 Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay, 

5. What use of the short sentence is seen in the sentence, 
■ " He would recover, etc.," and " He would be, etc." ? 

6. Account for the position of the phrase ''With Cowper." 
Note the climax with which this and the preceding paragraph 
ends. 

10 and 11. Point out words and phrases of reference and sub- 
ordination. 

13. Notice the structure of the second sentence. Find several 
instances of parallel construction in this paragraph. Account for 
the position of phrases in the sentence, " Of the conduct of Hast- 
ings, etc.," and compare with paragraph 16, second and third 
sentences. 

18. What use of the short sentences in this paragraph ? Could 
some of them be combined ? Find a case of parallel construction. 

20 to 25. Find by actual count the average number of words in 
a sentence. 

24. What words in the fifth and sixth sentences of this para- 
graph are emphasized by position ? What words in the second 
and fifth sentences of paragraph 25 ? in the first sentences of para- 
graphs 26, 27, 28, and 29 ? 

29. Account for the inversions in the third and fourth sen- 
tences. Note the repetitions of structure in the fifth and four- 
teenth sentences. Note the repetitions of the word Bengalee. 

30. Account for the inversion in the fifth sentence. 

32. What use of the short sentence is seen in the second 
sentence ? 

33 and 34. What variety in sentence beginnings? Verify the 
last sentence of the quotation from Freeman by examining the 
pronouns in paragraph 8, or 17, or 29. 

Macaulay's Arguments. I. 

38. What use of the " dilemma " (see dictionary) is made here ? 
How much does it prove? State the proposition of this para- 



Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay. 157 

graph, and the proof, in two sentences of your own, joined by the 
word because. 

43. Name the argument used in the third and fourth sentences. 

45. What two points are proved in refutation of Mr. Gleig ? 
What sentences prove the first point ? What sentences prove the 
second point? Name the argument used to refute Major Scott's 
plea. State in three or four sentences of your own the argument 
of this paragraph. « 

47. How is Mr. Gleig refuted in this paragraph? State the 
argument in your own words. 

53-56. To the proof of what proposition are these four para- 
graphs devoted ? What division of the evidence is made in 53 and 
54? Examine the six items of evidence in paragraph 53 and clas- 
sify each. Would any of these items by itself be conclusive? Why 
are the two sentences next to the last in paragraph 53 important ? 

54. Why is so much space devoted to the argument from inferi- 
ority? Note the steps in the refutation. Is the last part of the 
third sentence necessary? Name the argument in the sixth 
sentence. 

55. Put the argument of this paragraph into a single sentence. 
Name the argument. 

56. What does this paragraph tend to prove? What kind of 
proof is it ? Now make in complete sentences an outline or brief 
of these four paragraphs, 53-56. 

57-63. Point out two instances of reasoning from cause to 
effect or from fact to result in paragraph 57 ; one in paragraph 58 ; 
one in paragraph 59; two in paragraph 60 ; two in paragraph 61. 
Is the same method of reasoning pursued in paragraph 62? in 
paragraph 63 ? 

66 and 71. Pick out and state in your own words the propositions 
concerning Impey in these paragraphs; then state in your own 
words the proofs of the propositions. What value attaches to the 
letter in paragraph 71 ? Why is this especially strong evidence ? 

72-73. State the proposition that these paragraphs seek to 



158 Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay, 

establish. Arrange the proofs of this proposition in logical order 
and then name them. Show that Macaulay understood the value 
of rhetorical questions in refutation (paragraph 45), and knew 
the value of piling up example on example (paragraph 54), and 
how to make descriptive touches count as argument (paragraph 73). 

Macaulay's Method of Kakration. I. 

First notice the sequence and grouping of events up to this 
point. Paragraph 1 gives Macaulay's point of view — how he is 
going to treat Hastings. Sections of the narrative begin with 
paragraphs 2, 9, 15, 19, 32, 38, 50, 57, 64, 75, 83, 90, 94, 99. Make 
a list of the fourteen topics treated in these sections. Paragraph 
75 echoes what thought in paragraph 38 ? In paragraphs 82, 86, 
89, and 90 the strict time-order is not adhered to. Why ? What 
work is performed by paragraphs 40, 49, 101, 102 ? Why are the 
episodes introduced in paragraphs 53-56, and paragraph 101? the 
description in paragraph 76 ? the character-sketch in paragraph 
90 ? the descriptions in paragraphs 94-96 ? How is the climax, 
paragraphs 107-108, prepared for ? What is the movement in 
paragraphs 37, 78, 87, 88, and 107? and how is sentence- 
length affected thereby? 

Macaulay's Method of Exposition. 

112-116. What kind of exposition is predicted for this group 
by the expression "'precise nature " in the first sentence of para- 
graph 112 ? Set down in an outline six headings which shall show 
the topics treated. In what relation to the preceding heading 
does each heading, after the first, stand? Is there climax in the 
arrangement ? 

144-156 furnish a good illustration of popular didactic treat- 
ment. What is the main proposition in this review of Hastings' 
administration? What phases of the subject are treated in para- 
graphs 144-155 ? Set down in a list the principal topics treated : 
there are about a dozen of them. Express each in a complete sen- 
tence. In what relation does each stand to the preceding topic ? 

Four means of exposition chiefly used by Macaulay are 



Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay. 159 

(1) repetition of statements in great variety of forms, (2) pre- 
senting the contrary, with resulting antithesis, (3) real examples 
serving as comparisons, (4) concrete illustrations serving as analo- 
gies. Find conspicuous cases of one or two of these four means in 
paragraphs 1, 5, 13, 14, 23, 28, 29, 32, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 48, 52, 
54, 66, 67, 72, 73, 75, 94, 98. Which of the four means is used 
most frequently? Point out all of the means of developing the 
paragraph theme that are used in paragraph 153 and in paragraph 
154. Is the topic-sentence of paragraph 154 introduced first ? 

The whole essay is ostensibly a review of the book named at the 
beginning. What criticism of the book is made or implied in 
paragraphs 1, 45, 47, 64, 71, and 154? And what is implied by 
the fact that Macaulay, instead of criticising the book minutely, 
rewrites the story of Hoistings himself ? 

Macaulay's Method of Narration. II. 

Add to your previous list of topics the new topics treated in the 
sections beginning with paragraphs 110, 127, 140, 144, 157, 161, 
163, 165, 170, 172, 174, and 180. 

" He is exemplary in keeping prominent the main action and 
the main actor." — Minto. Note this in paragraphs 59, 60, 63, 83, 
and 97. 

" The arrangement is so easy and natural." — Minto. Verify 
this from your list of topics, noting especially how Macaulay gets 
from one topic to the next, for example, from paragraph 160 to 
paragraph 161 ; from 162 to 163 ; 164 to 165 ; 173 to 174 ; 183 to 
184. 

" In the explanation of events, Macaulay is . . . plausible." — 
Minto. Verify this in paragraphs 175, 176, 177, 178, 179 ; also in 
paragraphs 13 (end), 18, 38 (end), 66 (end), 72, 89, 98 (end), 99 
(end), 116, 145 (end), 154 (6th sentence). 

Minto says that Macaulay has a tendency to give his narrative a 
dramatic turn. " When he introduces his personages, and ex- 
plains what part they are playing, he drops a hint " of their future 
conduct. Verify this in paragraphs 5, 6 (end), 7, 29 (1st sen- 
tence), 37 (end), 52, 57 (3d sentence), 103 (note the dramatic 
details). 



160 Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay. 

" How inveterate is his habit of deferring an event till he has 
told us what ought to have happened or what might have hap- 
pened ! This bears a strong resemblance to dramatic plotting and 
excites very much the same interest ; it is one of the best recog- 
nized means of raising expectation and keeping it in suspense." — 
MiNTO. Verify in paragraphs 161-162, 166, 169, 171. 

" He expatiates on all the preliminaries of an action till he has 
awakened in us something like the excitement of those that are 
watching and waiting for the event." — Minto. Verify in para- 
graphs 40-44, 63-64, 69-70, 90-97, 111-117, 117-122. Notice also , 
that paragraphs 144-156 and 164-169 prepare us for 170-182. 

Macaulay's Method of Description. 

185-189. What point of view is announced in the second sen- 
tence of paragraph 185 ? Note the kind of details selected in 
paragraphs 185-186; to what do they all appeal? Is the hall it- 
self described? What interests Macaulay more, things or people? 
" He is nowhere more in his element than in describing a gorgeous 
pageant." What help to description is employed in paragraph 
186, There the historian, etc. ? Note the number and kind of 
details used in the sketch of Hastings in paragraph 187, and of 
Windham in paragraph 189. 

" He tells what people said, what they did, how they looked, 
what visions passed through their imaginations, and leaves the 
particularities of their state of feeling to be inferred from these 
material indications." — Minto. Verify this in paragraphs 185, 
186, 187, 190, 192 (end), 211, 212, 214 (beginning), and tell how 
the feelings are indicated in each case. 

What figure and what use of the concrete in paragraphs 59, 67 
(last part), 95, and 96? What indications of feelings in para- 
graphs 69, 70, and 138 ? What is the purpose of the details in 
paragraph 103 ? 

" When he describes a town he is concerned less with its shape 
and its position relatively to the surrounding landscape, than with 
its political or commercial importance, the number and character 
of its population, or the splendor of its buildings." — INIinto. 



Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay. 161 

Verify this in paragraph 111 ; what do the details all indicate of 
Benares ? (Compare also paragraph 122, last part.) 

'' What he delights to group and to delineate is not inanimate 
things but the condition, actions, and productions of man. ... It 
was vigorous, stirring movement . . . that chiefly engaged his 
interest." — MiNTO. Verify in the descriptive and pictorial 
touches in paragraphs 29, 41, 42, 48, 67, 84, 85, 122, 127, 155, 
and 167. 

Macaulay's Arguments. II. 

38. Compare the note to this paragraph. Is the refutation 
in this note directed against Macaulay's facts or against his infer- 
ences? What of the c~bmpetence of the witnesses to testify in 
this case? Would you discount Hastings' statement in any 
particulars? On the whole what judgment would you render if 
it were your duty to decide the matter? 

40. Do you agree that there is a " lasting stain on the fame 
of Hastings"? Your reasons. See note to paragraph 38. 

42. Does Macaulay's description of the Rohillas here agree 
with his description of the Rohillas in the Essay on Clive? How 
does this affect Macaulay's argument against Hastings ? 

43. Had he " no show of right " ? See note to paragraph 38. 

44. "A bargain was soon struck." Is this matter as simple as 
Macaulay represents it ? See note to paragraph 38. 

45. "The object of the Rohilla War." Did Hastings admit 
that this was the object? See note to paragraph 38. 

47. Compare the note to this paragraph; sujnmarize the argu- 
ments on each side and come to a decision as to the guilt or 
innocence of Hastings. 

53. After consulting such of the references to this paragraph 
as are accessible (see note to this paragraph), present the argu- 
ments for or against Francis as the author of the Junius Letters. 

57. Compare the note to this paragraph. What is your con- 
clusion from the fact that Macaulay took no notice of the Memoirs 



162 Rhetorical Qualities of the Essay. 

of Sir Elijah Impey? What is the effect of Sir James Stephen's 
argument from what we know of human nature? 

64. Read the note to this paragraph. What argument from 
absence of an essential fact is used by Stephen here? 

66. Consult the note. How is Macaulay refuted here? 

67. What conclusion do you reach when you read that Francis 
did not make the charge openly until 1788? 

71. From the note to this paragraph what is your conclusion? 

94. Consult the note to this paragraph and come to a conclusion. 

95. What is your conclusion after reading the notes to this 
paragraph and paragraph 96 ? 

97. What modification of Macaulay's judgment is necessary 
after reading the notes to this paragraph ? Give reasons in order. 

99. How does the note to this paragraph affect the testimony 
of Francis? 

111. How does the fact that Hastings was in a minority in the 
Council affect the weight of Macaulay's argument ? See note. 

133. See note to this paragraph. Is the defence of Hastings 
sufficient ? 

136. Compare the defence of Impey in the note to this para- 
graph. Summarize the arguments on each side and come to a 
decision. 



NOTES. 

1. uncovered, removed, their hats as a mark of honor. Macau- 
lay never allows a dramatic incident of this kind to escape notice. 
See also paragraph 211. 

Oliver Cromwell, Protector 1653-1658. " His countenance was 
swollen and reddish." —,- Green, A Short History of the English 
People, ch. viii, sec. vii. 

young Lely. Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), a Dutch portrait painter 
residing in London, was employed by Charles I, Cromwell, and 
Charles II. 

2. Alfred, the Great, began his reign in 871 ; defeated Hastings, 
the sea-rover, in 894. 

coronet of Pembroke, became Earls of Pembroke. 

renowned Chamberlain. William, Lord Hastings, was an ad- 
herent of the House of York (1461-1485) whose emblem was the 
White Rose, was favored by Edward IV, and became Lord High 
Chamberlain. He was beheaded by Richard III in 1483. See 
Shakespeare's Richard III, Act III, scene iv. 

a series of events. The earldom of Huntingdon was regained 
by a Captain Hastings who became the twelfth Earl in 1819, after 
the family had been dispossessed of the title thirty years through 
failure of heirs male in 1789. The romance consisted in the fact 
that the claim to the earldom was pressed, not by Captain Hastings 
himself, but by his lawyer, a Mr. Bell, who was so sure of his case 
that he paid all of the expenses of the suit himself. 

3. mint at Oxford. Oxford was the headquarters of the royal- 
ists during the Civil War (1642-1646), London being in the hands 
of Parliament. Royalists sent their plate to Oxford to be coined 
into money for the king's cause. - 

163 



164 Notes. [§§3-9 

speaker Lenthal, chairman of the House of Commons in 

Cromwell's time. 

4. presented his second son to the rectory, made his second son 

permanent clergyman of the parish. 
Customs, the revenue service. 

6. Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, literary men 
of the eighteenth century, of whom Cowper is the best known. 
He spent his life in seclusion at Olney on the Ouse. 

7. Impey. See note to paragraph 57. 

8. the foundation, a scholarship ; a studentship, a scholarship. 
Christ Church, one of the colleges of Oxford. 

hexameters and pentameters, equivalent to saying " the study 'of 
Latin," " the writing of Latin verses." 

a writership, a position as clerk and bookkeeper. 

East India Company. Chartered in 1600 as a trading company, 
the East India Company, by 1700, had established trading-posts 
(called factories) on the present sites of Madras, Bombay, and 
Calcutta. The Company was compelled, for the protection of its 
interests, to acquire more territory as opportunity was afforded. 
It came inevitably to exercise governmental functions, maintained 
an army and courts of law, and ruled a vast native population. 
In 1858 it was dissolved by Parliament ; its lands became part of 
the British possessions ; and India is now ruled by officers of the 
English Crown. In the time of Hastings, however, the Crown did 
not exercise direct control. The Company's affairs were admin- 
istered by twenty-four directors elected annually by the proprietors 
(stockholders) from their own number. The proprietors made 
the laws and regulations for the Company. Subject to these 
laws and regulations, the directors were in charge of the com- 
mercial and political interests of the Company. Many of the 
directors and proprietors were members of Parliament. 

9. Fort William, built to protect Calcutta. 

Dupleix, a French merchant, w^ho in 1742 became governor of 
Pondicherry and Director-General of the French factories in India. 
In the contest between the French and the English for supremacy 
in India, Dupleix, though at first successful, soon proved unequal 



§§ 10-13] Notes. 165 



« 



to the genius of Clive. Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive (of which 
the Essay on Warren Hastings is really a continuation) is in large 
part devoted to the story of the contest. See also Green's Short 
History, ch. x, sec. i ; Hunter's Brief History of the Indian Peoples, 
pp. 178, 179; Malleson's Clive, pp. 21-68, 194 ; Malleson's Dupleix. 

The War of the Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, 
1741-1748. See Macaulay's Essay on Frederick the Great. 

Carnatic, the east coast of South India. 

Clive, Robert (1725-1774), whose work as founder of the British 
Empire in, India Hastings completed and established, went to 
India as a clerk, in 1743, and became a brilliant military leader, 
winning victories over the French at Arcot and Trichinopoly, 
thereby making English influence in India superior to French 
influence. At the battle of Plassey, in 1757, Clive avenged the 
atrocities of the Black Hole of Calcutta, for which the Nabob 
Surajah Dowlah was responsible. See Macaulay's Essay on Lord 
Clive ; Green's Short History, ch. x, sec. i; Malleson's Clive. 

10. the prince, the Nabob of Bengal, Alverdy Khan, the grand- 
father of Surajah Dowlah. A character sketch of the latter will 
be found in Macaulay's Essay on Clive. 

the Mogul. The sovereign of the Empire of Hindostan (the 
capital of which was Delhi) bore the title "The Great Mogul," 
and the rulers of the provinces under him were called Nabobs. In 
the time of Clive and Hastings the Mogul Empire was falling to 
pieces, and some of the Nabobs had made themselves practically 
independent of the Mogul. See Hunter's Brief History of the Indian 
Peoples, pp. 132-155. 

the Black Hole. Bead Macaulay's famous description of this 
horror in the Essay on Clive. 

11. The treason. A conspiracy formed by the chief native 
officials of the Nabob Surajah Dowlah's dominions to depose him 
and to make Meer Jaffier, the commander of the troops, Nabob of 
Bengal in his place. Clive secretly favored the cause of Meer 
Jaffier, and after the battle of Plassey, June, 1757, proclaimed Meer 
Jaffier Nabob. The story is told in Macaulay's Essay on Clive. 

13. a member of Council. See paragraph 24. Mr. Vansittart, 
English governor of Bengal, 1760-1764. 



166 Notes. [§§ 16-21 

» 

rotten boroughs, parliamentary districts in which population 
had dwindled until but few voters were left and these easily- 
coerced or corrupted. Fifty-six rotten boroughs were abolished 
by the Reform Bill of 1832 and their seats in Parliament were 
assigned to the shires and to such large towns as before 1832 had 
been without representation. Macaalay was a member of Parlia- 
ment at the time of the reform and spoke eloquently and effectively 
in favor of the bill. See Macaulay's Speeches on the Reform Bill. 

St. James's Square, an aristocratic part of London. 

16. Hafiz and Ferdusi, Persian poets of the tenth and the four- 
teenth centuries respectively. 

Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784, author of the Lives of the Poets, 
Masselas, and compiler of the first English dictionary. 

17. the Directors, the Directors of the East India Company. 
See note to paragraph 8. 

Member of Council at Madras. There were three English Pres- 
idencies in India, one at Madras, one at Bombay, and one at Cal- 
cutta. Each had its own governor and council. See paragraph 24. 
The presidencies sometimes worked at cross purposes. 

18. pagodas, gold coins, varying in value from eight to nine 
shillings English money; called pagodas because each had the 
image of a pagoda stamped on one side. 

Indiaman, a passenger vessel plying between England and India. 
Franconia, a province of Germany, now part of Bavaria ; prob- 
ably Baron Imhoff's native country. 

21. the system which Clive had devised. Clive in 1765 restored 
Oude to the Nabob Vizier, which he had wrested from him the 
previous year at the battle of Buxar ; but on condition that the 
N'abob Vizier should pay to the Company £ 500,000. At the same 
time Allahabad and Corah were granted to the Great Mogul, the 
Nabob's nominal superior, on condition that Bengal should be, pro- 
tected from the Marathas, and that the English should (as diwan) 
collect the revenues of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, out of which the 
Great Mogul was to receive about £300,000 as tribute, and the 
Nabob Vizier £ 600,000. The Nabob was to be nizam; that is, he 
was to remain in control of the political and judicial parts of the 



§§22-24] Notes. 167 

government. Control of the revenues (as diivan) of course made 
the English the real masters of the country, for the real masters 
of a country are those who have the taxing power ; but Clive con- 
cealed this unpleasant fact as best he could by making a native, 
Mahommed Reza Khan, the minister of finance. The latter was 
located at Moorshedabad. See Macaulay's Clive ; Malleson's Clive. 

22. throne of Delhi, the Great Mogul. 

23. Augustulus . . . Odoacer. A child of six years, Romulus 
Augustus, was the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 
Odoacer, the leader of a tribe of German mercenaries, who, in 
475 A.D., had been partly instrumental in placing Augustulus on 
the throne, dethroned him after one year and governed Italy him- 
self. See West's Ancie-nt World, p. 502. 

Merovingians, Martel, Pepin. The Merovingians (Prankish kings 
in Gaul), the first dynasty of whom began to rule in the fifth 
century, gradually lost power until they became mere puppets in 
the hands of their chief ministers, the so-called Mayors of the 
Palace. Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace under the later 
Merovingian kings, was the real ruler of the Franks. His son, 
Pepin, put an end to the farce which his father had kept up, 
by deposing Chilperic, the last of the Merovingian kings, and 
proclaiming himself king, in 752. See West's Ancient World, 
p. 512. 

24. At present, in 1841, when this essay was written. Since 
that time the control of Indian affairs is vested in the Secretary 
of State for India. 

Mr. Dundas (1740-1811), eminent in Parliament; assisted 
Pitt in passing the India Bill of 1784. See also paragraphs 141, 
163, 172, 177, 179, and 184 of the essay. 

Mr. Burke (1728-1797). See also paragraphs 166, 173, and 190. 

Mr. Pitt (1759-1806), sometimes referred to as William Pitt the 
second, was the son of that William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who is 
the subject of two of Macaulay's essays. Pitt the second was 
Prime Minister in 1783 and secured the passage of an India Bill 
in 1784 which vested full superintendence over all civil, military, 
and revenue affairs of the East India Company in six commis- 
sioners appointed by the Crown.. The chief government in India 



168 Notes, [§§ 26-29 

was placed in the hands of the Governor-General with three 
councillors. By a subsequent act passed in 1786 the Governor- 
General was empowered to act on his own responsibility in extraor- 
dinary cases, without the concurrence of his councih This 
system of double government by the Company under the control 
of commissioners appointed by the Crown (i.e. really by the 
Prime Minister, who is directly responsible to Parliament) lasted 
until 1858, when the Crown assumed the sole and direct admin- 
istration of India, a project that had been under the consideration 
of the elder Pitt a hundred years earlier. See Lyall's The Rise of 
the British Dominion in India, p. 189. In 1772 the directors had 
resolved to stand forth as diwan, i.e. to take upon themselves, by 
the agency of their own servants, the " entire care and administra- 
tion of the revenues." — Hunter's Brief History of India, p. 456. 

26. a great native minister. See note on paragraph 21 (end). 

28. Mussulman, Mohammedan. 

29. Hindoo, the native race of Hindostan. Brahmin, the high- 
est of the four Hindoo castes, named from the god Brahma, and 
considered sacred. Maharajah, great king, a mere title of distinc- 
tion as applied to iN'uncomar. 

Surajah Dowlah. See notes to paragraphs 9 and 10. 

that was Nuncomar to other Bengalees. This could not be true 
of Nuncomar's physical organization, for Barwell describes Nun- 
comar as of " an -excessively strong constitution." Sir Gilbert 
Elliot said of him, " In person he was tall and majestic, robust 
yet graceful." 

Juvenal (30-100 a.d.), a Roman satirical poet. 

Sepoy, a native India soldier of the British army. 

Ionian, an inhabitant of Ionia in Asia Minor; a term of 
reproach. 

Stoics, a sect of philosophers who held that men should sub- 
due their passions and regard with calm indifference both joy and 
sorrow, their ideal sage may mean Zeno their founder. Mucius, 
a Roman soldier and patriot who was chosen by lot to murder 
Lars Porsena, but failed. He was seized and tortured by Porsena. 
While undergoing torture he told Porsena that- three hundred 



§§31-38] Notes, 169 

Romans had sworn to take Porsena's life, which frightened the 
latter into making terms with the Romans and giving up the 
siege of Rome. See Gihnan's The Story of Rome, p. 66. 

Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), one of the judges who tried 
Charles I ; was charged with complicity in the Ryehouse Plot (a 
plot to murder Charles II, and his brother, afterwards James II), 
was adjudged guilty by the notorious Jefferies (Jeffreys) and 
beheaded. See Green's Short History of the English People, 
p. 641. 

31. Meer Jaffier. See note to paragraph 11. 

32. mohurs, coins worth about |7.27 each. 

Lords of the Treasury, English ministers of finance. 

members for the city, members of Parliament representing the 
city of London. Many members of Parliament were financially 
interested in the East India Company. 

Leadenhall Street, the street in which the headquarters of the 
company was located. 

the council. See paragraph 24. 

33. On that memorable day. The relief of Patna, by the advance 
guard of Clive's troops, from the siege instituted by the Mogul's 
army under Shah Alum, is described in the Essay on Clive. 

34. Munny Begum, Queen mother, the widow of Meer Jaffier. 
38. The object of his diplomacy. Macaulay's account of the 

Rohilla War, paragraphs 38-39, is based on the theory that money 
was the sole object for which the war was undertaken. This was 
denied by Hastings, and his denial is supported by the facts as 
ascertained by historians since Macaulay. In order to appreciate 
the motives of Hastings, it is necessary to understand what was 
known while Hastings was in India as the " Maratha peril." Dur- 
ing the first half of the eighteenth century the Marathas gained 
the supreme power in India ; they levied tribute upon most of the 
peninsula. In 1741 and in the following years they repeatedly 
overran and devastated great portions of Bengal. In 1751, only 
six years before the victory of Clive at Plassey, the Viceroy of 
Bengal was compelled to make terms with them. In 1759 they 
occupied Delhi and declared their intention to leave no part of 



170 Notes. [§ 38 

India "unconquered. They were defeated at Panipat in 1761 ; but 
rapidly recovered their power and in a few years became as for- 
midable as before. They retm^ned to Northern India, devastated 
the land of the Rohillas, and threatened Oude with a similar fate ; 
but the English saved Oude from the invasion. " There was," 
says Strachey (Hastings and the Roliilla War, p. 36), " in Clive's 
opinion, one line of policy which it was above all things necessary 
to follow for ensuring the safety of our possessions in Bengal. 
That policy was the maintenance at all times of a strong and 
friendly state on the borders of our own provinces. There was, 
he held, no other means of keeping them apart from the contests 
that were going on without intermission in JSTorthern India, and 
of preserving an effectual barrier against the destructive inroads 
of the Marathas. This policy was in complete accordance with 
the views of the Court of Directors. They looked with extreme 
alarm on the prospect of a Maratha war and on the results that 
would follow the ruin of the Yizier." When, in 1771, the Mara- 
thas occupied Delhi, the Great Mogul, against the strong objec- 
tions of the English, left Allahabad and threw himself under the 
protection of the Marathas ; then he ceded to the Marathas the prov- 
inces of Corah and Allahabad which the English had given him. 
Under these circumstances, says Strachey (p. 108), "to go on pay- 
ing tribute to the Emperor would have been to pay it to the 
Marathas." See also Hunter's Brief History of the Indian Peoples, 
pp. 156-163; Malleson's Clive, pp. 25, 87, 173, 183; Trotter's 
Hastings, pp. 45-77,' 125, 144, 157. 

Hastings in his Defense before the House of Commons against the 
charges of Burke contended that the Rohilla War was on the part 
of the Company a defensive war. He said : " The dominions of the 
Nabob Sujah Dowlah, our ally, lay open and exposed to that of the 
Hohillas, both consisting of one vast plain, without any natural line 
of division or obstruction between ; and both were shut in by the 
same common boundary, the Ganges, closing them in the northern 
extremity with impenetrable mountains. The Marathas had 
successively attempted to possess themselves of this country; and 
but for the assistance of the Nabob's forces united with those of 
the Company, they would have succeeded. The Rohillas, though 
thus effectually and seasonably protected by the Nabob Sujah Dow- 



§ 38] Notes. 171 

lah, had openly negotiated with the Marathas, and had shown mani- 
fest dispositions to nnite with them against their defender. The 
same scenes might be renewed the next year, and repeatedly, with 
equal danger to the Nabob Sujah Dowlah, whether the Maratha 
obtained complete possession of the country, or the Rohillas joined 
with them to carry their ravages into his. The Company's inter- 
ests, which were at all times involved in the security of the N'abob 
Vizier's dominions, had acquired a strong additional tie by his re- 
cent engagements with them. The Rohillas had afforded him a 
just cause for war, and for all the consequences of it, by their 
repeated breach of engagement, and he had a right to our concur- 
rence and assistance in the prosecution of it. These were the 
grounds for undertaking the war." 

The "repeated breach of engagement" consisted in the refusal 
of the Rohillas to pay the Vizier the money which they had 
promised him by treaty in return for his protection against the 
Marathas. 

In answer to the charge of exterminating the Rohillas, Hastings 
wrote in his Defense before the House of Commons (May 2, 1786) as 
follows : " The ' extirpation ' consisted in nothing more than in 
removing from their offices the Rohillas who had the official man- 
agement of the country, and from the country the soldiers who had 
opposed us in the conquest of it. iN'or was the process a sangui- 
nary or hard one, as they had only to pass the Ganges to their coun- 
trymen on the other side of it." Colonel Champion testified before 
the House of Commons, May 3, 1786, that only those Rohillas who 
were under arms were required to cross the Ganges and that 
none were put to death excepting those who fell in battle. Middle- 
ton, the English Resident with the Vizier, testified. May 22, 1786, 
that he "knew of no instance of cruelty, in the course of the war 
upon the Rohillas, either by Sujah Dowlah or by his orders." See 
Strachey's Hastings and the Rohilla War, pp. 184-186 ; also E. B. Im- 
pey's Si?^ Elijah Impey. 

Teviotdale, a county in Scotland, formerly the scene of border 
conflicts. See the old ballad Chevy Chase, and Scott's Lay of the 
Last Minstrel. 

lacs of rupees. A rupee is a silver coin worth 48| cents. A lac 
means 100,000 of these coins. 



172 Notes. [§§39-43 

39. a tool in the hands of others, the Marathas, the very people 
irom whom the Mogul had agreed to protect Bengal. See note to 
paragraph 21. 

About twenty years ago. In 1819 the N'abob of Oude assumed 
the royal title, Shah. In 1856 Oude was annexed as a British prov- 
ince. See Hunter's Brief History of the Indian Peoples, pp. 219-220. 

Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, the rulers of two German 
provinces of the Holy Roman Empire who were called "Electors " 
because each had a vote in choosing the Emperor. 

40. a lasting stain on the fame of Hastings. For Hastings' side 
of the story, see note to paragraph 38. 

41. Sanscrit, the oldest of the Indo-European languages ; not 
now a spoken language; cdMed flexible because rich in inflections. 
The sacred books of India are written in Sanscrit. 

Ghizni. During the first Afghan war, the English took Ghizni, 
an Afghan fortress. This was in 1839, only two years before the 
essay on Hastings was published, and seemed to Macaulay to com- 
plete the series of British triumphs in India. See Hunter's Brief 
History of the Indian Peoples, p. 210. 

42. Rohillas. The Rohillas were not the people of the country, 
but a military tribe who had conquered it. In the Essay on Clive 
Macaulay refers to them as " a band of mercenary soldiers." There 
were in Rohilcund only about 40,000 Rohillas (Mohammedans in 
religion) ruling a .population of a million Hindoos. Middle ton, 
the English Resident with the Vizier, said, " They never applied 
themselves to any profession but arms, never to husbandry, manu- 
factures, or mechanic arts." See Strachey's Hastings and the 
Rohilla War, p. 27. 

Aurimgzebe, Emperor of Hindostan, 1658-1707, the last of the 
Moguls to rule the Empire in fact as well as in name. Read 
Macaulay's account of the Mogul Empire in the Essay on Clive.' 

43. Catherine, Empress of Russia, 1762-1796. For the three 
Partitions of Poland see West's Modern History, p. 296. 

Bonaparte. In 1808 Napoleon sent an army to conquer Spain 
of which he soon made his brother Joseph king. See West's 
Modern History, p. 374. 



§§ 45-47] Notes. 173 

45. Hesse and Anspach, German states whose troops were hired 
to England for service against the American colonies. 

Major Scott, an India army officer, afterwards Hastings' agent 
in London. See paragraphs 162, 169, and 179 of this essay. 

caput lupinum, wolf's head, an outlaw to be killed on sight as 
one would kill a wolf. 

47. Then the horrors. " The statement that atrocities were 
defended or excused by Hastings had its origin in a baseless 
falsehood. He did all in his power to cause the war to be con- 
ducted with humanity, and, considering all the circumstances of 
the case, his efforts were successful. From the time when the 
army of the Vizier entered Rohilkhand to the conclusion of the 
treaty of peace with Taizullah Khan, nearly six months elapsed. 
In the first week of this period, while hostilities were in progress, 
and in the three or four days which followed the defeat of the 
Kohillas, many villages were burned, and whatever property could 
be carried off was plundered. This occurred in a small tract of 
country between the Oudh frontier and Plibhit. There was no 
serious loss of life or personal suffering, because the villages had 
been, for the most part, entirely deserted by their inhabitants, 
who, according to their established custom on the approach of 
danger, had fled to the Tarai and forest, taking with them their 
cattle and such valuables as they could easily remove. The rest 
of Rohilkhand, a country nearly as large as Belgium, was rapidly 
occupied without opposition, after the defeat of the Eohillas, and 
there is no reason to suppose that in any part of it, or at any time, 
any serious excesses were committed by the troops of the Vizier. 
Long before the submission of Faizullah Khan, the Hindu inhab- 
itants, who constituted nearly the whole population, were, for 
the most part, following their usual occupations. There is nothing 
to show that they were anywhere exposed to any extraordinary 
hardship or ill-treatment beyond that inevitable in a time of 
war." — Sti'achey's Hastings and the Rohilla War, p. 231. Of 
the same view are Hunter, Wheeler. 

Colonel Champion remonstrated. Colonel Champion's remon- 
strances were for the most part based on native rumors which 
were never proved, were disbelieved by other English officers 



174 Notes. [§§ 48-54 

present during the campaign, and were indignantly denied by the 
Vizier. Mill, whose account Macaulay follows, misquoted Cham- 
pion in order to blacken the character of Hastings. — Strachey, 
chs. xiv, XV. 

He had troubled himself about nothing. Immediately upon 
receiving Colonel Champion's representations, Hastings wrote to 
Champion for particulars of the atrocities charged against the 
Vizier, which Champion failed to furnish. Hastings also instructed 
Middleton, the English Resident with the Vizier, to insist upon 
humane treatment of prisoners. — Ihid. 

their children butchered, and their women violated. There is 
absolutely no foundation for this change against the Vizier. — Ihid. 

48. Commerce and agriculture languished. The Rohilla War 
ended early in 1774. In December of the same year Colonel 
Champion testified before the Council at Calcutta. To the ques- 
tion, " Have the native inhabitants deserted the country since the 
conquest of it, and in what state is it at present?" he replied, 
" The native inhabitants are still remaining, and the country is in 
a flourishing state." Other army officers testified to the same facts. 

53, Letters of Junius. These letters, containing severe criti- 
cisms upon King George the Third and his ministers, and other 
public men, appeared from 1769 to 1772 in the Public Advertiser, 
a London paper published by Woodfall. It is not known who 
wrote them, but competent literary opinion is against identifying 
Francis with Junius. See Craik's English Literature and Language^ 
II, 320 (fine print) ; also London Athenceum, Aug. 11, 25, Sept. 8, 
1888; Dec. 14, 1889; June 28, Aug. 9, 1890; Jan. 24, 1891; March 
17, 24, 1894; also Article on Francis in Dictionary of National 
Biography, vol. XX ; Lecky's History, III, 235-254 ; English 
Historical Review, April, 1885 (article by Stephen) ; Fortnightly Re- 
view, XXV, 494 ; and Morley's Macaulay. Also John Paget, 
New Examen (1861), Puzzles and Paradoxes (1874), Judicial 
Puzzles (1876). 

54. Corneille, a French dramatist (1606-1684), author of Le Cid. 
Ben Jonson, an English dramatist (1574-1637), contemporary 

of Shakespeare. 



§§ 55-57] Notes. 175 

John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of Pilgrim's Progress. 
Cervantes, a Spaniard (1547-1616), author of Don Quixote. 
Home Tooke, an English philologer (1736-1812). 

55. Hebrew prophet. See Jonah iv. 9. 

Old Sarum, a rotten borough in Wiltshire which had two mem- 
bers of Parliament to represent it, though it had declined until it 
had not a single house or inhabitant when it was abolished by 
the Reform Bill of 1832. 

Manchester and Leeds had rapidly grown to great cities, but until 
the Reform Bill of 1832 were without representation in Parlia- 
ment ; while in country districts every owner of a freehold of 
forty shillings a year could vote in parliamentary elections. 

56. George Grenville (1712-1770), one of George the Third's 
prime ministers. He passed the Stamp Act and began the prose- 
cution of John Wilkes. 

Middlesex election. Read the story of Wilkes in Green's Short 
History of the English People, ch. x, sec. ii. 

57. Sir Elijah Impey was born at Hammersmith, June 13, 1732, 
was sent to Westminster School from 1739 to 1751, whence he 
went to Trinity College, Cambridge, being at the same time 
entered as a student of law at Lincoln's Inn, was called to the bar 
in 1756, and in 1757 was elected to a fellowship at Trinity, a dis- 
tinction which Macaulay won about seventy years later. Impey 
practised law in England on the Western Circuit and, when the 
Supreme Court of Calcutta was established, was appointed its first 
Chief Justice, arriving at Calcutta in 1774. The House of Com- 
mons, in 1782, passed a resolution recalling him " to answer the 
charge of having accepted an office granted by, and tenable at, the 
pleasure of the servants of the East India Company, which had 
a tendency to create a dependence in the said Supreme Court 
upon those over whose actions the said Court was intended as a 
controul." Accordingly Impey left India in 1783 and arrived in 
London in June, 1784. He was not dismissed from the chief 
justiceship nor called upon to answer the charge on which he had 
been recalled, but continued to hold the office of Chief Justice 
until November, 1787, when his resignation was accepted. Febru- 



176 ' Notes. [§57 

ary 4, 1788, articles of impeachment against him having been pre- 
pared, Impey was heard in liis own defence at the bar of the 
House on the first charge, that relating to Nuncomar. Then evi- 
dence on this charge was taken before a committee, and in April 
and May the question was debated at length whether Impey should 
be impeached, when the motion to impeach was rejected by a vote 
of seventy-three to fifty-five. The other charges were not pressed. 
Impey survived for twenty-one years the unsuccessful attempt by 
powerful enemies to impeach him, and died October 1, 1809, in his 
seventy-seventh year. In 1846 his son, Elijah Barwell Impey, 
published, in answer to Macaulay, the Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey, 
from which the facts stated in this note are gleaned. It is to be 
regretted that Macaulay neither noticed the book nor modified his 
unjust judgment of Impey. 

" If Macaulay's account of Impey is to be believed, he must have 
been one of the most odious and contemptible of human beings, 
committing the most abominable crimes from the basest of motives, 
or even without any niotive at all. For, if this view is correct, he 
began by committing the most execrable of all murders — a judicial 
murder under the forms of law — simply out of gratuitous subser- 
viency to Hastings. He proceeded for no obvious reason to erect a 
system of tyranny and oppression over all Bengal, attempting with 
his colleagues to usurp ' supreme authority through the whole of 
the vast territory, subject to the presidency of Fort William.' He 
gave up this monstrous pretension in consideration of an enormous 
bribe, and he abetted crimes said to have been perpetrated in 
Oudh, under the authority of Hastings, simply because ' there was 
something inexpressibly alluring, we must suppose, in the peculiar 
rankness of the infamy which was to be got at Lucknow.' In 
short, he was a fiend in human shape, and a very contemptible one. 

" I have not, in my own experience of persons holding conspic- 
uous positions in life, met with any of the fiends in human shape 
. . . which abound in Macaulay's histories, and form one of the 
principal defects of those most delightful books. I have read 
everything I could find throwing light on Impey's character, and 
it appears to me that he was neither much blacker nor much 
whiter, in whole or in part, than his neighbours. ... I have 
read through all his letters and private papers, and I can discover 



§§ 59-64] Notes. 177 

in them no trace of corruption. . . . He was obviously a zealous, 
warm-hearted man, much attached to his friends, but not the least 
likely to be a tool of, or subservient to any one, and certainly not 
to Hastings, with whom at one time he had a violent quarrel. 
There was nothing exceptionally great or good about him, but I 
see as little ground from his general character and behaviour to 
believe him guilty of the horrible crimes imputed to him as to sus- 
pect any of my own colleagues of such enormities. [Sir James 
Stephen, the writer (1885), was one of the judges of the High 
Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division.] When his conduct in 
the different matters objected to is fully examined, I think it will 
appear that if the whole of his conduct is not fully justified, he 
ought at least to be honourably acquitted of the tremendous 
charges which Macaulay has brought against him." — Stephen, 
I, 33-35. 

59. Gates, Bedloe, Dangerfield, impostors who pretended to have 
discovered a " Popish Plot " against the English Government. By 
their perjuries many innocent people were put to death. It was 
on Oates's evidence that Lord Stafford, a Catholic peer, was be- 
headed. See Green's Short History of the English People, ch. ix, 
sec. iv. 

61. her attestation. " The signature of the letter was compared 
with the Begum's signature attached to an authenticated communi- 
cation just received from that lady, by . Sir John D'Oyly, and it 
was declared not to be in the handwriting of the Begum." — E. B. 
Impey's Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey, p. 77. 

62. a clerk from the war-office, Francis. 

64. On a sudden. One might suppose from Macaulay's ac- 
count that the proceedings against Nuncomar were not begun 
until six years after the crime alleged was committed. The fact 
is that the suit in connection with which the charge of forgery was 
afterwards made had been dragging its way through the lower 
courts for more than three years before the Supreme Court arrived 
(Oct. 19, 1774). It was at first a civil suit for damages, but in 
March, 1774, several months before the Supreme Court arrived, the 
prosecutor of ISTuncomar, Mohun- Persaud by name, began criminal 



178 ■ NoteB. , [§§65-66 

proceedings against Nuncomar for forgery, which came before the 
Supreme Court in the usual way, after its arrival. — Stephen, I, 
93-96. 

Hastings was the real mover. No evidence was produced at 
Nuncomar's trial by his attorney, Farrer, tending to show that 
Hastings was the real prosecutor. " Nothing could have been more 
urgently to the purpose, nothing if the fact were so, could be more 
easy to prove." ■ — Stephen, 1, 182. All recent authorities are of the 
same opinion excepting Beveridge who, in his Trial of Malidrdja 
Nanda-Kumdr, renews the charge that Hastings did conspire with 
Impey to murder Nuncomar. 

65. Nuncomar was brought before Sir Elijah Impey. Macaulay 
does not mention the other three judges. Nuncomar was brought 
before the full court, not before Impey alone. The four judges 
were equally responsible, and were unanimous in their judgments. 
— Stephen, H, 65. 

66. That Impey ought to have respited Nuncomar. Impey 
alone had not the power to grant a respite. That power belonged 
to the whole court, consisting of Impey, Chambers, Lemaistre, and 
Hyde. Impey was not more responsible than his colleagues for 
Nuncomar's execution. The court's power to respite was discre- 
tionary, but was limited by charter to capital cases " wherein there 
shall appear in their judgment a proper occasion for mercy," and 
in such cases the court had to furnish " their reasons for recom- 
mending the criminal" to mercy. The four judges were unani- 
mous in not advising a respite of their own accord, and they were 
not petitioned for a respite by Nuncomar, his attorney, or his 
friends. — Stephen, II, 63 et seq. 

Whether the whole proceeding was not illegal, is a question ; that 
is, whether Nuncomar was liable to English law at all, and 
whether, if so, the statute (2 Geo. II) on which he was tried was 
applicable to his case. Nuncomar's attorney, Mr. Farrer, yielded 
on both these points. Stephen remarks on the assertions of this 
paragraph (1) That the statute was passed with reference to a 
state of society exactly similar to that which existed in 1775 in 
Calcutta, and it was extended to the inhabitants of Calcutta only, 
and not, as Macaulay seems to assume, to all India. (2) It was 



§§ (37-71J Notes, 179 

not unknown to the inhabitants of Calcutta. (3) At least one 
native, Radachurn Mettre, had been convicted, sentenced, and par- 
doned under it. (4) The inhabitants of Calcutta were well ac- 
quainted with the distinction between forgery and other kinds of 
cheating. (5) They were not accustomed to regard lightly such 
a crime as ISTuncomar's, whose offence was not simply forgery, but 
the robbery of his friend's widow of 60,000 rupees, more than half 
her estate, by means of the forgery. — Stephen, II, 70-73. 

But Impey would not hear of mercy or delay. " There is no evi- 
dence whatever that Impey would not hear of mercy. As to delay, 
the execution took place on the 5th of August, sentence hav- 
ing been passed on the 24th of June, an interval of six weeks." 
— Stephen, II, 65. 

67. Francis . . . described. Not, however, before the execution. 
Several days after the execution, Francis moved in Council that a 
petition which had been received from Nuncomar, be expunged 
from the records and .the original burned, on the ground that it 
contained insinuations of a libellous nature against the judges. 
This was done. The petition insinuated that the governor with 
the aid of the Judges had brought about the ruin of Nuncomar 
in order to save Hastings from the effect of Nuncomar's evidence 
in the suit mentioned in paragraph 61. Later on (in Septem- 
ber and November, 1775), Francis, with Clavering and Monson, 
did sign minutes that insinuated, without expressly charging, that 
Nuncomar had been judicially murdered. In 1788 Francis made 
the charge openly, on the occasion of the Impey impeachment pro- 
ceedings. But his motion in Council discounted his subsequent 
testimony. Francis was an unprincipled adventurer, whose word 
was not generally deemed worthy of belief. — Ihid. 

70. Hoogley, a mouth of the Ganges, the sacred river. 

71. No rational man can doubt. The only writer of recent 
date who holds with Macaulay is Beveridge, Trial of Maharaja 
Nanda-Kumdr. Stephen (II, 38) calls attention to the fact that, 
for the success of the alleged conspiracy between Hastings and 
Impey, the other three judges and the twelve jurymen must 
have been corrupted also. Is it credible that sixteen men were 



180 Notes. [§§ 72-82 

thus corrupted? "The trial of !N'uncomar was unscrupulously 
misrepresented by Sir Philip Francis and his partisans. Their 
contemporary slanders were equally unscrupulously accepted by 
Mr. James Mill in his History, and unfortunately passed as facts 
into Lord Macaulay's world-famous essay on Warren Hastings." 
— Hunter, 457. 

These strong words can refer only. They are explained by 
Stephen (II, 44) as referring to the support given to Hastings 
by Impey and other judges when Clavering tried to dispossess 
Hastings of the office of Governor-General in the summer of 1777, 
as related by Macaulay in paragraph 80. 

72. Lord Stafford. See note to paragraph 59. 

74. Tour to the Hebrides, by Johnson, 1773. 

Jones's Persian Grammar, published in 1771 by Sir William Jones, 
a great Oriental scholar, founder of the Bengal Asiatic Society 
(1784). 

75. Lady Macbeth. See the play. Act I, scene v. 

76. The Regulating act, passed in 1773. Nuncomar was exe- 
cuted in 1776. 

Lord North, Prime Minister 1770-1782. 

Directors, Proprietors. See note to paragraph 8. 

seldom seen so far eastward. The offices of the Company were 
in the eastern part of the city. This part would be visited only by 
men of business, the fashionable part of London lying towards 
Westminster. 

the Cabinet. The ministers. For a brief account of cabinet 
government, see Wilson's The State, pp. 375-386, or Macey's The 
English Constitution, chs. 2, 39, 40, 41, 44. 

77. the crown lawyers, the Lord Chancellor, the Attorney-Gen- 
eral, and the Solicitor-General. 

the resignation. See paragraph 62. 

79. the court of Directors. See note to paragraph 8. 

82. when his original term of five years expired, 1779. 
were now exposed, 1775-1778. 



§§ 83-89] Notes. 181 

83. eighteen years before. That is, in 1760. 

vigor and genius. A reference to William Pitt the Elder, whose 
ministry (beginning 1757) George III succeeded in overthrowing 
in 1761. 

assailed by France, Spain, and Holland, 1781. 

armed neutrality of the Baltic. In 1780 Russia, Sweden, and 
Denmark combined to resist England's claim of the right to search 
their ships. 

Calpe, Gibraltar. Calpe and Abyla opposite form the " Pillars of 
Hercules." 

84. Mahrattas. See note to paragraph 38. 

reign of Aurungzebe, 1658-1707. The decadence of the Mogul 
Empire began in his reign. See Hunter's Brief History, pp. 
144-150. 

Sevajee, first organized the Mahrattas against the invading 
army of Aurungzebe; was acknowledged Rajah (King) of the 
Mahrattas by Aurungzebe in 1667 ; died 1680. — Ibid. 157, 158. 

Bonslas, Guicowa, Scindiar, Holkar. — Ihid. 160, 161, 177. 

85. house of Tamerlane. Timour, or Tamerlane (1336-1405), 
Tartar conqueror of Northern India, founded the Mogul Empire 
which was finally established by Baber (1526-1530). Baber was 
the first to take the title " The Great Mogul." See Hunter's Brief 
History, pp. 126, 132. 

roi faineant, lazy king. 

bang, hemp. The leaves are chewed or smoked as a means of 
intoxication. An intoxicating drink is also made from them. 
mayor of the palace. See note to paragraph 23. 

86. had arrived at Poonah, 1777. 
Lewis the Sixteenth, 1754-1793. 

88. without a moment's delay. The date is 1778. 
Pondicherry, the last stronghold of the French in India. 
Lascars, native sailors of India. 

89. a new and more formidable danger. From the phraseology 
employed at the beginning of paragraph 94, these words might be 



182 Notes, [§§90-95 

misunderstood to refer to the attempt of the Supreme Court to 
extend its jurisdiction. There is little doubt, however, that the 
reference is to the Hyder Ali troubles (paragraph 103 and follow- 
ing). Note the phraseology at the end of paragraph 102. 

90. the council of war, etc. See the Essay on Clive. 

battle of Plassey, fought by Clive in 1757 against Surajah Dow- 
lah, Nabob of Bengal, to panish him for the atrocity of the Black 
Hole, 1756. 

Wandewash, 1760. Lally lost the battle of Wandewash and was 
beheaded on his return to France in 1766. He was an Irishman 
who had joined the French army. 

Porto Novo and Pollilore, 1781, victories of Coote over Hyiier 
Ali. 

salam, the Oriental greeting (" peace "). 

94. the attempt which the Supreme Court made. " The Su- 
preme Court never did claim any such general jurisdiction as is 
alleged. Practically, the most important of its claims was juris- 
diction over the collectors of the revenue and officers of the Pro- 
vincial Courts, as being servants to the Company." — Stephen, 
Nuncomar and Impey, II, 248. 

Wat Tyler, a peasant of Kent who in 1380 struck a tax-gatherer 
dead for an insult to his daughter. 

95. A reign of* terror. "No evidence at all of any such 'reign 
of terror' as Macaulay imagined." — Ihid. 

There were instances, etc. " The only matter to which this can 
refer is the case of the Cazi Sadhi. He was one of the defendants 
in the Patna Cause and was taken in execution after bail had been 
given for him by the Company. He died on a boat on the Ganges 
on his way to Calcutta whilst under a guard of Sepoys. . . . Here 
we see one Cazi turned into an indefinite number of ' men of the 
most venerable dignity ' ; a man, found guilty by legal process of 
corruptly oppressing a helpless widow, into men of the most ven- 
erable dignity persecuted by extortioners without a cause ;- and a 
guard of Sepoys, with which the Supreme Court had nothing to 
do, into ' vile alguazils of Impey.' " — Ihid. II, 250. 



§97] Notes. 183 

The harems. " There was one instance in which one Moham- 
medan of some rank thought that his friend's zenana was likely to 
be broken open, and stood in the doorway sword in hand to defend 
it. . . . It does not appear that the zenana was broken open, or that 
any attempt to do so was made." — Ibid. II, 251. " One zenana was 
broken into by a bailiff, and a slave girl was wounded. . . . The 
Rajah of Cossijurah's zenana is said to have been entered. . . . 
Upon these three cases is founded all the eloquence about Wat 
Tyler, a reign of terror, and the cruel humiliation of all the 
nobility of Bengal." — lUd. II, 252. 

97. were served with writs. " This passage implies that Impey 
individually caused the Governor and the members of Council to 
be ' served with writs.' ^ Neither Impey nor the Supreme Court 
did anything of the kind. They expressly refused to issue an 
attachment against the Governor or the Councillors, because they 
were by the Regulating Act exempt from the criminal jurisdiction 
of the Court." — lUd. II, 253. 

set at liberty. " It is not true that any one arrested by the 
Court justly or not, in this matter was set at liberty by the Coun- 
cil. One person only . . . was imprisoned and that was for con- 
tempt in not answering interrogatories. The Council never set 
him at liberty. They authorized him to answer the interroga- 
tories in order to regain his liberty." — Ihid. II, 253. 

a bribe. " This charge is inconsistent with the dates, and asserts 
imaginary facts. No appeal to force was averted. On the con- 
trary, such an appeal was made. The sheriff's officers actually 
were resisted and taken prisoners by two companies of Sepoys in 
January, 1780. Impey never did desist from urging the high pre- 
tensions of the Court. The Council, by military force, restrained 
the jurisdiction of the Court, and by a proclamation to all the 
natives informed them that they were at liberty to set its process 
at defiance. No bargain was struck. The Council and the Court 
respectively had done their very worst by each other nine months 
at least before any sort of offer was or could be made to Impey. 
... In that state of things it is difficult to see what the Court 
had to give for which it was worth the Council's while to offer a 
bribe. Hastings wanted nothing from Impey. There was noth- 



184 Notes. [§§ 98-105 

ing to be got from him except an admission that the Council had 
been right in their difference and the Court wrong, and this Hast- 
ings did not ask for, did not get, and did not vfant. If he had got 
it, it would have been useless." — Ihid. 11, 254, 255, Impey accepted 
the new judgeship in October, 1780, without any promise of salary, 
though he expected a salary. In July, 1781, Impey wrote to the 
Council that he should decline appropriating any part of the salary 
voted him until word should be received from the authorities in 
England whether it should be proper. — Stephen, II, 232. 

98. Jefferies (1648-1689), a brutal judge in the reign of James II, 
held the infamous " bloody assize " after Monmouth's rebellion in 
1685. The name is more often spelled Jeffreys. 

99. personal aversion to Impey. Francis's aversion and resent- 
ment were due to a decision of Judges Impey and Hyde (Cham- 
bers dissenting) awarding exorbitant damages agajinst Francis in 
a suit in which Francis was defendant. The decision was equiva- 
lent to a public condemnation of Francis's' personal character. 

102. The measures. See paragraphs 87 and 89. 

103. dervise, a poor Mohammedan monk living on charity. 
Lewis the Eleventh (1423-1483). King of France. 

104. Had Hastings been governor of Madras. See paragraph 24, 
and notes to paragraphs 17 and 24. 

provoked their powerful neighbor's hostility, by seizing Mahe (in 
the extreme southwest of the Indian peninsula) in 1779. Mahe 
belonged to France, but was also claimed by Hyder Ali, who had 
notified the Madras authorities not to meddle with it. See Lyell's 
Rise of the British Dominion in India, p. 167. 

105. Coleroon, a river crossing the southern part of the Indian 
Peninsula. 

Mount St. Thomas, a hill five or six miles from Madras, so low 
that such a view as Macaulay describes w^ould hardly be possible. 
Macaulay must mean "eastern sky" instead of ^' western sky" as 
Mount St. Thomas is inland from Madras. Burke's famous de- 
scription of Hyder All's irruption may be found in his Speech on 
the Nabob of ArcoVs Debts. 



§§ 106-122] Notes. 185 

Fort St. George, built for the protection of Madras. 

106. tanks, reservoirs with earthen embankments. 

a great French expedition. See Mahan's Injluence of Sea Power 
in History, p. 428. 

107. the southwest monsoon. The monsoon blows from the 
southwest during the summer (April to October), and from the 
northeast during the winter (November to March). 

108. Porto Novo, 1781. 

111. St. James, and Versailles, the seats of the English and 
the French courts, respectively. 

by a solemn treaty; This treaty was made in 1775 when Hast- 
ings was in the minority in the Council. See paragraph .58. " The 
revenue of Cheyte Sing's territory, thus alienated, was estimated 
at 22,000,000 rupees." — E. B. Impey, Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey, 
p. 68. 

113. house of Tamerlane, the Mogul dynasty. 

Carlovingian empire. See note to paragraph 23, and West's 
Ancient World, pp. 546-558. 

Hugh Capet, chosen King of France in 987, on the death of the 
last Carlovingian king, ruled until 996. France had not yet be- 
come a united nation. The Dukes of Brittany and Normandy had 
grown so great that they paid only a nominal homage to the King. 
See "West's Modern History, p. 52. 

Charles the Tenth, King of France 1824-1830. His reactionary 
policy and unconstitutional government led to his overthrow. 

Prince Louis Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon, made an unsuccess- 
ful attempt at Strasburg in 1836 to overthrow the throne of Louis 
Phillippe. 

114. sixty years ago, in the days of Hastings, say 1780. 

de facto . . . de jure. A government de facto is one that has and 
exercises sovereign power in fact, apart from the question of legal- 
ity ; a government de jure is founded on legal right. 

122. the Black Town of Calcutta, the northern section of Cal- 
cutta, inhabited by Hindoos and Mohammedans. 



186 Notes, . [§§125-139 

125. Major Popham. In the Mahratta War, Major (at that time 
Captain) Popham had performed a brilliant and daring exploit ; 
he had taken the fortress of Gwalior by escalade. Chiefly owing 
to this exploit Hastings was able to terminate the Mahratta War 
ill 1782 with some show of not being beaten. See Lyell's Rise of 
the British Dominion in India, p. 170. 

a mere pensioner. The title was kept up until 1871, when it 
was abolished. 

129. Lucknow, the capital of Oude, located on the Goomti, a 
tributary of the Ganges. 

131. Fyzabad. In Oude, sixty-five miles east of Lucknow. 

133. A pretext, etc. " Hastings was told that the Begums were 
implicated in the rebellion of Cheyte Sing." — Wheeler, Short 
History of India, p. 376. Also Trotter's Hastings, p. 182. 

136. torture. It is now known that no tortures were inflicted 
on the eunuchs. One of them, as late as 1803, was reported as 
being " well, fat, and enormously rich." The Begums sent letters 
of friendship and commiseration to Hastings during his trial 
before the House of Lords. See Wilson's notes on Mill's History. 
Also Trotter's Hastings, p. 185. 

139. to intrude himself. Impey's justification is substan- 
tially as follows : Impey had been requested by the Governor- 
General and Council to visit the provincial courts of justice. 
While thus engaged he received letters from Hastings urging him 
to come to Benares. At Benares, Hastings was writing a narrative 
of the events that had taken place there. Impey suggested that 
the account should be authenticated by affidavits. Hastings 
requested Impey to take the affidavits, and Impey agreed to do so, 
his record reading, " Mr. Hastings having described the Begums 
as being in actual rebellion, I told Mr. Hastings that if that was 
the fact, I thought their intervention was an offence to the 
government of the Nabob (of Oude) and that he had a most 
undoubted right of seizing the treasures of those persons who 
were employing them against his state." Hastings then sent 
Impey to Lucknow with a message to the Resident insisting on 
the fulfilment of the treaty (see paragraph 134) ; and while at 



§§ 140-145] Notes, 187 

Lucknow Impey took the affidavits. On the matter of this para- 
graph Stephen (Nuncomar and Impey, II, ch. xvi) remarks, 
(1) that it is absurd to blame a judge for not ascertaining the 
contents of an affidavit before he swears it, or for swearing an 
affidavit that is written in a language which the judge does not 
understand ; (2) that until the year 1835 the taking of voluntary 
affidavits for the purpose of authenticating matters of fact was 
very common ; (3) that none of the affidavits were " in the dialects 
of Northern India " ; those so described by Macaulay were in 
Persian and Hindostanee, both of which languages Impey could 
read ; (4) that Impey did ask deponents w^hether the contents 
of their affidavits were true ; (5) that Macaulay's conclusion (that 
Impey's motive was love of infamy) is absurd. See also Trotter's 
Hastings, p. 184. 

140. stripped of that robe. See note to paragraph 57. 

the Revolution, of 1688, the date that also marks the downfall 
of Jefferies. The name is more often spelled Jeffreys. 

141. There was as yet no connection. Until Pitt's India Bill 
was passed in 1784, neither party could be held responsible for 
the acts of the Company or its agents. See paragraph 24. 

The bargain. For the exact words employed see note to 
paragraph 57. 

The great parties, Whigs and Tories. 

142. a single branch, the House of Commons, which alone had 
passed the resolutions referred to in the preceding paragraph. 

144. we have to set off great public services. Compare with this 
the sentiment expressed in the Essay on Clive (thirteenth para- 
graph from the end). 

thirteen colonies, acknowledged independent in 1782. 
the Irish. From 1782 to 1800 Ireland had its own Parliament. 
Minorca and Florida, ceded to England in 1763 by the Treaty 
of Paris ; regained by England, 1802 (Peace of Amiens). 
Senegal, a French settlement on the west coast of Africa. 
Goree, a small island close to Senegal. 

145. Emperor Joseph, II, of Germany (1741-1790). 



188 J!^ote8. [§§ 147-154 

147. Downing Street. The Foreign Office, the Home Office, and 
the Exchequer are in Downing Street. 

Somerset House, the office of the Inland Revenue Department 
and the Audit Office. 

148. Marlborough (1650-1722) commanded Dutch and German 
troops in addition to liis own English soldiers, and was often 
thwarted in his plans by the opposition of the Dutch generals ; the 
hero of Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706), in the War of the 
Spanish Succession. 

Wellington (1769-1852), hero of the Peninsular War in Spain 
and Portugal (1808) and of Waterloo (1815.) Wellington served 
first in India against the Mahrattas. 

Portuguese Regency. In consequence of the Queen's insanity, the 
Prince of Portugal was Regent. Juntas, here means represen- 
iative bodies. Mr. Percival (1762-1812), a Prime Minister of Eng- 
land whom Wellington found troublesome. 

152. a far more virtuous ruler. Sir William Bentinck, Gov- 
ernor-General from 1828 to 1835. See the last sentence of Macau- 
lay's Essay on Clive. 

Asiatic Society, founded by Sir W^illiam Jones, 1784. 
Pundits, learned Brahmins. 

153. a jingling ballad. When Hastings was practically a prisoner 
at Benares, the rabble reviled him in the doggerel rhymes — 

'* Hatee pur houda! ghorra pur zeen, 
Juldee jao, juldee jao, Warren Hasteen! " 

which E. B. Impey (^Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey, p. 234, note) 
translates — 

"Horse, elephant, houda, set off at full swing, 
Run away, ride away, Warren Hastings." 

Impey adds, " The ballad was sung, not in praise of, but in 
triumph over Hastings." 

154. zemindars, collectors of revenue on land; landed pro- 
prietors. 

Carlton House, a luxurious palace given to the Prince of Wales, 
afterwards George IV. 



§§ 155-162] Notes, 189 

Palais Royal, a splendid palace in Paris. 

155. round-house, cabin. 

Sir Charles Grandison, the hero of Richardson's novel of the 
same name, published 1753. Miss Byron in the novel becomes 
Sir Charles's wife. On Macaulay's familiarity with Richardson, 
see Trevelyan, Life and Letters of Macaulay, I, 129, 134. 

157. Horace (65 to 8 B.C.), a Latin satirist. Otium Divo rogat 
(Every one prays the gods for quiet) is the first line of one of 
Horace's Odes. 

Lord Teignmouth was afterwards Governor-General of India, 1793- 
1798. 

158. Leadenhall Street. The main office of the East India 
Company was located in this street. 

159. The Queen, Charlotte, Queen of George the Third. 

the " elegant Marian." Hastings' wife had suffered in reputa- 
tion on account of the circumstances attending her divorce from 
Imhoff. Macaulay's phrase is sarcastic. 

161. Grattan (1746-1820), an Irish statesman and orator who in 
1782 secured for Ireland legislative independence of the British 
Parliament. See Green's Short History of the English People, ch. 
X, sec. iv, p. 774. 

Hannibal (247-183 B.C.). Waterloo (1815). 

Themistocles (514-449 b.c.) defeated the Persians in the sea- 
battle of Salamis. 

Trafalgar (1805). Nelson defeated the combined French and 
Spanish fleets. 

162. Wedderburn had defended Clive, but was one of Hastings' 
most bitter assailants. See the Essay on Clive. 

pass to the trunkmakers. Sold as waste paper to line trunks or 
wrap up pastry. Macaulay uses this phraseology in other essays. 

"that reptile Mr. Burke." But Mr. Burke had previously called 
Major Scott " a jackal." Macaulay is hardly fair to Major Scott. 
See Memoirs of Charles Reade, I, 8. Major Scott was Charles 
Reade's grandfather. 



190 Notes. [§§ 163-166 

163. The ministers were generally believed. The long ministry 
of the younger Pitt began in 1783 upon the defeat of Fox's East 
India Bill, when Fox and Burke were driven from office. Fox's 
Bill owed its defeat to the fear that it would make the patronage 
of India the prize of the politicians. 

The resolution of censure, moved by Mr. Dundas. See para- 
graph 141. 

164. the coalition. Fox, radical Whig, Lord North, Tory, and 
Burke, conservative Whig, united in forming the Coalition Minis- 
try in 1783, which was overthrown the same year. See note to 
paragraph 163. 

Brooks's. A famous club-house in St. James's Street, frequented 
by the AVhigs, most of whom were opposed to Hastings. Fox, 
Burke, Sheridan, Gibbon, and Walpole were some of the promi- 
nent members of the club. 

future votes. The diamond necklace was supposed to represent 
ability to secure votes by bribery. 

depending questions. The insinuation is that the diamond ear- 
rings (in shape like question marks) might settle certain political 
questions then pending, if converted into bribes. 

Philip Francis. According to Merivale, the biographer of Fran- 
cis, Macaulay has given in the Essay on Hastings a perfect analysis 
. of Francis's character. Stephen, however, convicts Francis of 
" falsehood, treachery, and calumny." 

166. alienated from Fox, because Fox favored the French Revo- 
lution, while Burke was fanatical in his opposition to it. Mor- 
ley's Burke, p. 131, should be read in connection with this para- 
graph. 

French Republic, 1793-1804. 

any other explanation. A more authentic explanation is that 
Burke, in all things sincere, but often credulous, was incited to 
fury against Hastings by the wicked arts of Francis. He believed 
implicitly the monstrous stories which Francis set afloat in order 
to ruin Hastings and Impey. The stories fitted Burke's own pre- 
conceptions and imaginings. 

Las Casas (1474-1566), a Catholic bishop who crossed the 



§§167-168] Notes, 191 

Atlantic twelve times to plead with the Court of Spain on behalf 
of the South American Indians. 

Clarkson (1760-1846), instrumental in abolishing the African 
slave trade. 

neither blood nor language in common. Modern philology has 
demonstrated that the people of India are akin in language to 
most European nations. 

167. by any public man who had not quitted Europe. Burke had 
never been in India. 

Imaum, a Mohammedan priest. 

yellow streaks of sect. The Brahmins painted a yellow mark 
on their foreheads. 

Beaconsfield, the name of Burke's villa in Buckinghamshire. 

Lord George Gordon's riots. The abolition, by Parliament, of the 
penal laws against Catholics caused great alarm among the Prot- 
estant Associations. Under the leadership of Lord George 
Gordon, in 1780, a vast procession was formed to march to the 
House of Commons and demand a restoration of the anti-Catholic 
laws. The procession was joined by lawless elements and became 
a turbulent mob which terrorized London for six days, burning 
Catholic chapels and stoning the residences of Catholic sympa- 
thizers. See Dictionary of National Biography, XXII, 197. Also, 
Annual Register, 1780, and Dickens's Barnaby Rudge. 

Dr. Dodd, a clergyman executed in London for forgery, in 
1777. 

168. Stamp Act. Burke's speech for the repeal of the Stamp 
Act was delivered in January, 1766. 

the Regency. In 1788 George III became temporarily insane, 
and it seemed that a regent might have to be appointed. The dis- 
cussion was on the right of the Prince of Wales to assume the 
regency without action of Parliament. In 1810 when the King 
became hopelessly insane the Prince was made regent. See 
Bright's English History, p. 1142. 

French Revolution, 1789-1793. 

the Bastile, the state prison of Paris, destroyed by the Revolu- 
tionists, July 14, 1789. 



192 Notes, [§§173-180 

Marie Antoinette, Queen of Lewis XYI. Both were guillotined, 
1793. Burke was horror-stricken at the excesses of the Revolu- 
tion. 

173. star of the Bath. The Bath is an order of knighthood. 
Its badge is an eight-pointed star. 

sworn of the privy council, sworn in as a member of the King's 
privy council. The members of the privy council are chosen at 
the pleasure of the sovereign. They number about two hundred 
and include the royal princes, high officers of the church and state, 
judges and other important personages. Since the system of gov- 
ernment by the Cabinet Ministry has been perfected in England, 
the political importance of the Privy Council has disappeared. 
See Macy's The English Constitution, pp. 86, 324, 341, 403; or 
Wilson's The State, pp. 374, 386. 

the Keeper of the Great Seal, the Chancellor. 

patent of peerage, a written instrument conferring a title of 
nobility. 

young ambition. See paragraph 5. 

176. works of supererogation, good works in excess of what strict 
duty requires. 

177. from the Treasury, from the First Lord of the Treasury, 
that is, from Pitt. 

the Opposition, the party not in power, " the outs." See 
Wilson's The State,^ p. 378 ; or Macey's The English Constitution, 
p. 26. 

divided against, voted against. 

178. William Wilberforce (1759-1833), famous as the chief 
opponent of the slave-trade. 

179. Board of Control. Pitt's India Bill (1784) created this 
Board, which had entire control over East India affairs. 

180. The prorogation. The adjournment of Parliament for the 
annual recess or vacation. 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816), a great orator and 
dramatist. His best comedies are The School for Scandal^ and 
The Rivals. 



§§ 182-186] Notes. 193 

182. to go before the Lords, and to impeach. The House of 
Commons impeaches; the House of Lords acts as judge of the 
case. See Macey's The English Constitution, pp. 266, 372; or 
Wilson's The State, p. 377. 

185. High Court of Parliament. See preceding note. For im- 
pressions of the trial scenes read The Diary and Letters of Madame 
D'Arblay, sec. xii. 

the Plantagenets (1154-1399), Henry 11 to Richard II. 

186. hall of William Rufus. Westminster Hall, built by 
William II (Rufus), adjoins the Houses of Parliament. 

Bacon, Lord Chancellor, convicted of accepting bribes (1621). 

Somers, the eminent judge who had used his influence to 
bring about the Revolution of 1688, was impeached in 1701 
on a charge of having accepted enormous grants of land from 
the Crown, but was acquitted. See Bright's English History, 

p. 872. 

Strafford, beheaded (1641) on a charge of high treason, was the 
most influential adviser of Charles I. 

Charles, the First, beheaded in 1649. 

Garter King-at-arms, the chief of the heralds who are in charge 
of royal processions. 

junior Baron, the last man called to the House of Lords. 

defence of Gibraltar, in 1781. 

Marshal, because the duke of Norfolk is the oldest English 
dukedom. 

house of Brunswick, or house of Hanover, still occupying the 

throne. 

Siddons (1755-1831), an actress. 

historian of the Roman Empire, Gibbon (1739-1794). 

Cicero (106-43 b.c), Roman orator. 

Tacitus (75-120 a.d.), Roman historian. 

oppressor of Africa, Marius Priscus. 

greatest painter. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). 

greatest scholar, Dr. Parr (1747-1825). 

her to whom, Mrs. Fitzherbert, privately married to the Prince 
of Wales in 1785. 



194 Notes. [§§ 187-194: 

Saint Cecilia, Mrs. Sheridan, whom Reynolds painted in the 
character of the patroness of music. 

Mrs. Montague, the founder of the Blue Stocking Club, author of 
An Essay on the Genius of Shakespeare. (Not Lady Mary Wortley 
Montaga of Pope's time.) 

whose lips. The Duchess of Devonshire is said to have gained a 
vote for Fox by bribing a butcher with a kiss. 

187. Mens aequa in arduis, a mind serene in troubles. 
Proconsul, the title of a Roman Governor of a province. 

188. Lord Melville is Mr. Dundas, mentioned frequently in- the 
essay. He was accused in 1805 of breach of duty as Treasurer of 
the N^avy, but was acquitted. 

189. wearing a bag. The bag was a silken pocket tied to men's 
hair. 

Age and blindness. Lord ISTorth was only fifty-six years old at this 
time, so that his age could hardly have unfitted him. 

great age of Athenian eloquence, the middle of the fourth cen- 
tury B.C. Demosthenes and Hyperides flourished then. 

Windham, 1750-1810. 

youngest manager, Earl Grey, only twenty-four years old at the 
time of Hastings' trial. He was Prime Minister when the Reform 
Bill of 1832 was passed. 

within the last ten years. The essay was printed in 1841. 

190. constitution- of the Company. See note to paragraph 8. 

English Presidencies. See note to paragraph 17. 

Chancellor, Thurlow, who sympathized with Hastings. See 
paragraph 173. 

192. Cheyte Sing. See paragraphs 112 to 126. 
Princesses of Oude. See paragraphs 131 to 138. 

194. lacs, see note to paragraph 38. 

crores, a crore is 100 lacs. 

zemindars. See note to paragraph 154. 

aumils, court officials. 

sunnuds, charters. 

perwannahSj official orders. 



§§ 195-208] Notes, 195 

jaghires, tracts of land, 
nuzzurs, presents to superiors. 

195. the Regency. See note to paragraph 168. 
States-General of France, soon afterwards the National Assem- 
bly. 

197. The law-lords, the Lord Chancellor and three other dis- 
tinguished lawyers, or judges, chosen by the Crown. 

199. vote of censure was carried. Impey had been acquitted 
when Burke made this violent assault upon Impey and Hastings. 

200. Parliament was dissolved. When Parliament is dissolved, 
a new House of Commons must be elected. See Wilson's The State, 
pp. 381, 393-395 ; or" Macey's The English Constitution, pp. 19, 21. 

203. the woolsack, the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House 
of Lords. 

204. a ciiddy, a cabin. 

pundits. See note to paragraph 152. 

zemindars. See note to paragraph 154. 

apotheosis, deification. 

Pantheon, the Eoman temple dedicated to all of the gods. 

205. Logan, a Scotch clergyman. His Ode to the Cuckoo is well 
known. 

Simpkin's Letters, rhyming burlesques of the speeches of Hast- 
ings' accusers. 

Pasquin. A Roman cobbler of the fifteenth century who made 
sarcastic epigrams on his neighbors. The word "pasquinade" 
perpetuates his memory (see dictionary). 

Daylesford. See paragraph 5. 

206. Directors, Proprietors. See note on paragraph 8. 
Leadenhall Street. See note on paragraph 158. 
Board of Control. See note on paragraph 179. 

207. a coronet, a peerage. 

a red riband, the insignia of the Order of Bath. 

208. Mr. Addington, Prime Minister 1801-1804. 



196 Notes, [§§ 209-214 

Bonaparte was at Boulogne, meditating an invasion of England. 
The fear of this brought Pitt back into power to succeed Adding- 
ton. 

the important question, the question of Catholic Emancipation 
which had driven the Pitt ministry from power. 

209. AUipore, near Calcutta. 

Covent Garden, the London market for fruit. 
Bootan, a province northeast of India. 

210. Trissotin, the poet and gallant in one of Moliere's plays, 
Les Femmes Savantes. 

Dionysius (430-367 B.C.), tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, a distin- 
guished general fond of trying his hand at literature. 

Frederic, the Great, King of Prussia (died 1797), distinguished 
as general and ruler. One of his weaknesses was, that, despising 
his native German, he wrote his books in French. 

the Hay leys and Sewards, forgotten versifiers of the eighteenth 
century. 

214. Richelieu (1585-1642), famous as Cardinal and Minister of 
France. 

Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, sixteenth century, patron of 
literature, science, and the arts. 



I 



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